This thesis contributes to the academic literature on the measurement of innovation and innovative capabilities, with a specific emphasis on organizational innovation in low-tech, service, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It also examines an additional aspect of evolutionary theory concerning the capabilities and behaviours of firms, mainly by looking at research on dynamic capabilities and absorptive capacity. A multidimensional model measuring innovative capacity and innovation performance has been developed and tested on survey data from 123 boutique hotels and 136 pest control firms in Brazil.
About the author
Márcia da Mota Darós is an Associate Research Fellow at Institute for Economic Research on Innovation and a dual-career PhD fellow at UNU-MERIT and Maastricht University.
Her thesis focused on measurement of management innovation in small and medium firms of the service sector in transition economies. Her main research interests cover innovation in services, management innovation, innovation in small and medium service firms, service and manufacturing interactions and local and regional development issues.
