Innovation determinants in manufacturing firms

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In this paper the findings of an empirical study concerning the innovation determinants in manufacturing firms is presented. The empirical study covers 184 manufacturing firms located in the Northern Marmara region of Turkey. In the paper an extensive literature survey on innovation determinants is provided. A model is proposed to explore the probable effects and the amount of contribution of the innovation determinants to firm’s innovativeness level. Despite there is abundant research that analyzes the effects of various innovation determinants, this paper provides a comprehensive model and tests its validity. It is also unique in the sense that the significance of the innovation determinants is studied based on the empirical survey data. Such knowledge is invaluable for the decision makers in order to manage their innovation strategies and provides a guideline for effective allocation of their limited resources to be more innovative. The analysis reveals that among all possible determinants considered, intellectual capital has the highest impact on innovativeness followed by organization culture.