Innovation Activities in the Primary Wood Products Sector: A Case Study
Keywords:
Innovation, Competitiveness, Manufacturing, wood productsAbstract
The goal of this article is to understand how wood products industries located in Virginia incorporate innovation into their business processes through a case study methodology. Based on innovation theory and previous studies in innovation, a case study that included interviews, on-site visits, and analysis of documents was designed and applied to four industries in the wood primary sector to 1) identify innovation activities into four categories: product, process, marketing, and organizational management; and 2) to understand, describe, and explain the source of innovation in these firms and to develop an innovation research model for further research. All four firms performed innovation activities mostly at the product development level and the source of innovation is primarily from external sources. Using the results, a conceptual model to further study innovation in the primary wood products sector was defined. This model will be tested using a different methodology in subsequent research. The application of the case study was very useful to understand the source of innovation and how primary wood products firms perform innovative activities at various levels.References
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