O processo inovativo nas empresas participantes do projeto ali - agentes locais de inovação -2019/2020 nas regionais Juiz de Fora e Cataguases: características, fatores facilitadores e dificultadores

Abstract

Innovation has different facets: it can occur through the launch of a new or significantly improved product or service, or through the introduction a new organizational or marketing process in the company. Regardless of the type of innovation, when innovating, the company aims to increase its competitiveness, as innovation is a way for the company to maintain its relevance and survival. Due to its relevance in the organizational environment, innovation is the subject of several researches, being studied under different dimensions. In the case of micro and small companies, the theme is still little explored when compared to large companies, especially due to the difficulty of obtaining data and the informality that innovative activities assume in companies this size. The growing importance that micro and small companies have assumed in the economy, the advent of new paradigms that boosted innovation in these companies, such as Open Innovation, and the beginning of government innovation programs developed for micro and small companies, such as Agentes Locais de Inovação (ALI), increasingly insert these companies in the context of innovation and demand investigations that address this phenomenon in a specific way. In this context, this study investigates the innovative process of micro and small companies participating in an innovation project, the ALI, in two cities served by the project, Cataguases and Juiz de Fora, seeking to describe characteristics of this process and identify factors that facilitate and hinder the search for innovation in these companies. For this, a descriptive research was carried out using primary data collected through 60 questionnaires and 14 interviews with participating companies. The data collected through the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the interview data were analysed using the categorization technique. The results show that the population studied has a high rate of innovation, based mainly on the search for easily accessible information, market trends and aimed to improve or expand the products/services offered. It is suggested that these innovations, however, have a low impact on the market as a whole, being relevant for the company's adaptation to new trends and situations. Also noteworthy is the predominant ind87uuuuividualized role of these companies in their innovation activities. In the analysis of factors that drive innovation in these companies, the category Processes and practices aiming at innovation is highlighted, through practices such as the search of external knowledge, communication between employees and observation of problems and opportunities in daily routine; the practices are mostly informal but contributory to innovation. Secondly, the categories Market influences and Relationship with external actors stand out. Among the barriers to innovation in these companies, the category Organizational characteristics that discourage innovation, represented mainly by excess of routine work, was the most striking category, followed by the category Limitations in infrastructure, resources and technology, where financial limitations represented a significant barrier.