Purpose

The goal of this research is to evaluate obstacles to innovation according to the perception of firms in the Chilean food sector, and to assess the relationships of these obstacles with innovation spending and willingness to innovate.

Design/methodology/approach

We analyzed data from the Chilean National Innovation Survey (Encuesta Nacional de Innovación) of 2017 and 2019, which were administered by the Ministry of Economy and the National Institute of Statistics. This survey is designed to be nationally representative. The methods we employed to analyze the data include linear regression, probit and logit models and factor analysis.

Findings

We found that obstacles to innovation can be grouped into five types, namely: cost-based, knowledge-related, market problems, lack of necessity for innovations and regulatory. Cost was positively, and significantly, associated with innovation (expenditures and willingness to innovate). We argue that this is because as firms engage in innovation, they become aware of the associated costs. Also, knowledge obstacles and lack of necessity were negatively associated with innovation. This may mean that as firms engage in innovation, they are able to overcome said obstacles; which speaks well of their innovation ecosystem.

Originality/value

We develop the argument that survey-based studies of obstacles are amenable to a perception-based interpretation of obstacles, because most surveys tend to collect firms' perceptions. Consequently, we provide perception-based explanations for our findings. Additionally, most empirical studies of obstacles in the food sector are of a qualitative nature. Our work supplements this literature with a quantitative analysis that can expand our understanding of innovation in the food industry.

中文翻译：

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食品部门的创新障碍和创新意愿：智利为例

目的

这项研究的目的是根据智利食品行业公司的看法来评估创新的障碍，并评估这些障碍与创新支出和创新意愿之间的关系。

设计/方法/方法

我们分析了2017年和2019年智利国家创新调查（Encuesta Nacional deInnovación）的数据，该数据由经济部和国家统计局进行管理。此调查旨在代表全国。我们用于分析数据的方法包括线性回归，概率模型和对数模型以及因子分析。

发现

我们发现，创新的障碍可以分为五类，即：基于成本的，与知识相关的，市场问题，缺乏创新和监管的必要性。成本与创新（支出和创新意愿）呈正相关关系，而且关系重大。我们认为这是因为随着公司从事创新，他们会意识到相关的成本。此外，知识障碍和必要性的缺乏与创新产生了负面联系。这可能意味着，随着公司从事创新，他们将能够克服上述障碍。这充分说明了他们的创新生态系统。

创意/价值

我们提出这样一种论点，即基于调查的障碍研究适合障碍的基于感知的解释，因为大多数调查都倾向于收集企业的认知。因此，我们为发现提供了基于感知的解释。此外，对粮食部门障碍的大多数实证研究都是定性的。我们的工作通过定量分析补充了这些文献，可以扩大我们对食品行业创新的理解。