Innovation, Training and Success
23 Pages Posted: 21 Mar 2000
Date Written: November 30, 1999
Abstract
This paper describes the evidence that several Statistics Canada studies have developed on the importance of innovation to growth and the need for highly skilled workers in the innovation process. Rather than focusing on broad industry aggregates as is often done, we concentrate our attention on firms and their behaviour. This allows us to investigate the connection between the success of businesses and the strategies that they pursue.
We find that the more successful firms attribute their success to having developed competencies in a wide range of areas--but that the common factor that most frequently distinguishes faster from slower growing firms is innovation. Innovators in turn place greater emphasis on training and acquiring skilled workers.
The studies also show that the emphasis on highly skilled workers varies across industries. In goods industries, a training strategy complements an innovation strategy that focuses on R&D, the adoption of new advanced technologies, or the development of new processes. Small firms that are innovative train their workers when they introduce new machinery and equipment. In the service sector, the innovation strategy relies less on new capital and more on new skills embodied in the workforce. Here there is evidence that a training strategy, by itself, has more impact on the success of a firm--probably because it is more likely to be the innovation strategy of the firm.
JEL Classification: J24, J41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
Business Strategies in Innovative and Non-Innovative Firms in Canada
By John R. Baldwin and Joanne Johnson
-
Advanced Technology Use in Canadian Manufacturing Establishments
By John R. Baldwin and Brent Diverty
-
Employment Generation by Small Producers in the Canadian Manufacturing Sector
By John R. Baldwin and Garnett Picot
-
Changes in the Diversification of Canadian Manufacturing Firms (1973-1997): A Move to Specialization
By John R. Baldwin, Desmond Beckstead, ...
-
Technology Use and Industrial Transformation: Empirical Perspectives
By John R. Baldwin, Brent Diverty, ...
-
By Garnett Picot and Richard Dupuy
-
By Garnett Picot, John R. Baldwin, ...
-
By John R. Baldwin, Petr Hanel, ...