Networking theory of innovation in practice – the Hungarian case

Abstract

According to the European Innovation Scoreboard (2017) report, Hungary’s summarised innovation score is 67.4 against the EU28 average of 102. This implies that the Hungarian economy has got rather serious disadvantages in the European Union community. This statement is more pronounced in the case of the food industry. From an innovation point of view food industry is seen as a slow one, which is lagging behind the technology pushed possibilities, but sometimes behind the customers’ desires and requirements as well. In our research, we determine why the food companies in Hungary do not engage in innovation activities and if they do so, what are the main drivers of their innovation performance? We use the Community Innovation Survey (CIS 2012a) data and employ double hurdle estimation because of the nature of the innovation distribution. This method also helps in overcoming the selection bias problem, which necessarily occurs in this situation. Results prove that networking scope as well as networking intensity, play an important role in explaining innovation performance. The size and market obstacles are also significant factors.