Sustainability-oriented Innovation: Crucial Sources to Achieve Competitiveness

Abstract

Innovation is an important part of a sustainable society and a prerequisite for the long-term competitiveness of organizations. Continuous innovation can support the sustainability of organizations, which represents an important area for every organization and for the entire society. This paper aims to identify the main sources of innovation that support sustainability and competitiveness in the organizations surveyed. The study is based on both quantitative and qualitative research (the questionnaire survey of n1 = 183; the focus groups of n2 = 5), using the tools of descriptive statistics and factor analysis by the method of principal components. The results have shown that the main sources of innovation are stakeholders involved in the sales chain, primary and applied research, innovation programmes focused on employees as well as customers, and benchmarking.