Purpose

The food industry has always been supplier dominated, characterised by low research intensity, product line extensions and me-too products. However, recent changes have led new firms operating in the food industry to invest in research and development (R&D) activities in order to introduce innovations into the market and achieve superior performance. This paper aims to verify whether these changes are noteworthy by investigating whether and which innovation-related factors (investments in R&D activities, qualified scientists/engineers and holding a patent) can affect the performance of food start-ups.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 108 innovative start-ups operating in the food industry in Italy was selected, and a stochastic frontier analysis was carried out. This methodology was chosen because of the factorisation of the error term, which is divided into a unilateral component (revealing the inefficiency of the statistical model) and a symmetric component (revealing random gaps).

Findings

Statistical elaborations provide two interesting results. One concerns the error term (only random inefficiency affects results) and the other relates to innovation-related factors. Only investments in R&D activities positively affect the performance of innovative start-ups in the Italian food industry.

Originality/value

Results confirm the relevance of investments in R&D activities for Italian start-ups aiming to achieve superior performance in the food industry. These results confirm relevant changes are occurring in what was a supplier-dominated industry and disclose how start-ups should master the dynamics of innovation and allow for speculation on future industry trends.

中文翻译：

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初创企业在食品行业的创新过程和绩效：随机前沿分析

目的

食品行业一直以供应商为主，特点是研究强度低、产品线延伸和产品仿冒。然而，最近的变化导致食品行业的新公司投资于研发 (R&D) 活动，以便将创新引入市场并实现卓越绩效。本文旨在通过调查与创新相关的因素（研发活动的投资、合格的科学家/工程师和持有专利）是否会影响食品初创企业的业绩，以及哪些创新相关因素会影响食品初创企业的业绩，从而验证这些变化是否值得注意。

设计/方法/方法

以意大利食品行业的 108 家创新型初创企业为样本，进行了随机前沿分析。选择这种方法是因为误差项的因式分解，它被分为单边分量（揭示统计模型的低效率）和对称分量（揭示随机间隙）。

发现

统计阐述提供了两个有趣的结果。一个涉及误差项（只有随机无效率影响结果），另一个涉及与创新相关的因素。只有对研发活动的投资才能对意大利食品行业的创新型初创企业的业绩产生积极影响。

原创性/价值

结果证实了意大利初创企业在研发活动上的投资的相关性，这些初创企业旨在在食品行业取得卓越的业绩。这些结果证实了供应商主导的行业正在发生相关变化，并揭示了初创企业应如何掌握创新动态并允许对未来行业趋势进行推测。