The role of strategic innovation activities in creating Spanish agriculture companies' innovativeness

The aim of this study is to identify strategic innovation activities that influence the product and process innovativeness of Spanish agriculture companies. From a theoretical perspective, according to the Oslo Manual, strategic innovation activities can be divided into five key groups. Based on a dataset including 874 firms covered by the 2014 edition of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS), we examine the role of different forms of strategic innovation activities used for the introduction of product and process innovations. Using the logit regression model and marginal effects, we found evidence of a relationship between the strategic activities and the product and process innovations in Spanish agriculture companies. The results indicate that only one type of strategic innovation activity, i.e. in-house research and development (R&D) is a common statistically significant factor explaining the product and process innovation. In the case of the other strategic innovation activities, some differences can be found. Thus, external R&D and other activities are significant for product innovation, but not for process innovation. In turn, the acquisition of machinery, equipment, software and buildings and training for innovative activities are significant for process innovation, but not for product innovation.