Innovation behavior of agri-food small and medium-sized enterprises: the case of Europe’s emerging economies

Abstract

This paper examines the innovative behavior of agri-food firms located in Central and Eastern Europe. In the literature, empirical analyses on innovation activities of firms focus on various case studies from around the world. However, very few studies explore the innovation of small and medium sized enterprises from Central and Eastern Europe’s agri-food sector. The analysis uses the logit estimation method and firm-level data, which are obtained from ERBD-World Bank Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey. Results suggest that firms that spent some proportion of their financial budget on research and development, had workforce training programs, and bought fixed assets are more likely to launch product, process, organizational, and marketing innovations.