Chapter 7 gives the results of the Business Operations Survey questions about how innovators and non-innovators measured their business performance.
A key result was that innovators were more likely than non-innovators to see increases in their profitability and productivity from 2008 to 2009.
Please view tables 12–13 (in chapter 17 of the pdf or in the available files section online) along with this chapter.
Business performance measures
A number of business performance indicators were compared between innovators (with implemented, and ongoing or abandoned innovations across all four types of innovation) and non-innovators (all other businesses). This analysis is summarised in figure 7.01. Compared with non-innovators, innovators were more successful in all measures.
An increase in sales was the most commonly achieved measure for both innovators and non-innovators, followed by increased profitability, and increased productivity. The biggest differences were the higher proportions of innovating firms with increased productivity (39 percent of innovators compared with 23 percent of non-innovators) and increased market share (30 percent compared with 14 percent). All these results are similar to those of 2007.
Figure 7.01
Performance assessment
Earlier results show that the main reasons that businesses innovate relate to measures of their financial performance (see chapter 6 for details). Other results from the survey show that 66 percent of all businesses focused a great deal on financial and cost measures when assessing their performance, whereas only 15 percent focused a great deal on innovation.
While innovation rates have been sustained, the combination of these results seems to show that it is the outcomes of innovation that are important to businesses. Innovation is a means to achieve those desired outcomes, rather than the end in itself.
Figure 7.02
