Cooperation with External Agents and Non-technological Innovations

Abstract

Unlike technological innovations, non-technological ones are relatively scarcely reported in the literature. Our study analyses the influence of cooperation with different external agents: (1) suppliers, (2) customers, (3) competitors, (4) experts and consultants, and (5) universities and public research centres on the development of these types of innovation, a distinction being made between organizational and marketing innovations. The results make it clear that such cooperation is significantly favourable to the development of both, but our analysis leads us to conclude that cooperation with suppliers is the most influential of the five.