Formal Innovations vs. Informal Innovations: The Case of the Mining Sector in Nigeria (original) (raw)
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2020
While studies have examined the nexus between knowledge and innovative performance, the literature from the context of developing countries is very scant. This study thus examines which knowledge-intensive activities influence the propensity of mining firms in Nigeria to implement either product innovation, process innovation or both kinds of innovations. The study explored 106 purposively selected mining firms in Nigeria to check the effect of knowledge on the prevalence of innovation in the industry. Using a questionnaire administered to the chief executive officers/most senior managers of the firms, the study identified six main knowledge indicators for the mining industry which were regressed against indicators of technological innovations. The study found that while R&D activities were important for product innovation, acquisition of machinery, equipment, hardware and software were the principal drivers of process innovation. The knowledge-based activities common to both innovation types were acquisition of external knowledge/ technologies, learning, knowledge exchange and training as well as other activities like feasibility studies, market research, continuous improvement, business process re-engineering, tooling-up, routine software upgrades, amongst others. The study concludes that certain knowledge-intensive activities are important for different kinds of innovations in the firms.
Innovation Strategies and Firm Performance: A Study of Femine Mill Nigeria, Calabar
International Journal of Social Science and Human Research, 2021
This paper investigates the role of innovation strategy on performance of Femine Flour Mill Calabar. The study employed survey research design. The target respondent is the total employees of Femine flour mill Calabar which stand at 126 staff. Self administered questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. The instrument was subjected to content validity and test retest statistical analysis was used to ascertain the reliability of the instrument at 0.82. The study adopted simple random sampling technique and Taro Yamane’s statistical formula was used to determine the sample size at 96. Pearson Correlation was employed to establish the relationship between the two variables. Out of 96 distributed questionnaires 85 was properly filled and was used for the analysis. , the relationship between level of process innovation strategies, product innovation strategies and firm performance is positive at 0.419 and 0.419 respectively, indicating that an improvement in level of p...
Types and Drivers of Innovation in the Manufacturing Sector of Ghana
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2017
The study sought to identify the type and drivers of innovation with special reference to the manufacturing sector of Ghana. This study employed Probit regression model on the 2013 Ghana Enterprise Survey and the 2014 Ghana Innovation Follow-Up Survey. The results showed that market innovation is the predominant type of innovation among the manufacturing firms in Ghana. Product innovation and process innovation were found to be driven by internal R&D. It was also discovered that organisational innovation is positively driven by the age of the firm, training of production staff and internally installed internet. We further found that female top managers, internal R&D, training of production staff and internally installed internet drive market innovation. In order to aid the innovation activities, government should subsidize internal R&D activities and companies should engage in constant training of production staff in the manufacturing firms.
An Overview of Innovation Intensity in the Indigenous Oilfield Services Firms in Nigeria
The study examined the types and intensity of innovations in the indigenous Nigeria's oil and gas servicing sub-sector. The study used primary and secondary data sources, 100 firms were purposefully selected and sampled, focusing on the period between 2001 and 2010. A total of 400 questionnaires were ad min istered of wh ich 70% were returned and found suitable for analysis. The responses were aggregated such that the unit of analysis was the firm. Secondary data were sourced fro m the internet and other published sources. The data so obtained were analy zed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Of the 4 types of innovation that the study examined, o rganizat ional innovation was the most prevalent (46%) while diffusion-based innovation was least (10%). Product and process innovations were implemented, respectively, by 17% and 22% of the firms. Innovation intensity was lo w: only two patents were granted to the firms within the period 2007-2010, level of organizat ional learning was lo w, the nu mber of R&D staff was low while the impact of innovation on firms' performance was expressed in increase in profit, process improvement and new product development. In conclusion, our study found out that the overall innovation capability of the firms was expressed in organizational innovations.
Dynamics of Innovation in the Informal Settings
International of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 2020
Using first-hand data collection from enterprises in the informal sector and their stakeholders, this study argues that enterprises in the informal sector are innovative however their innovation activities follow a different undercurrent. The study puts forward that indicators for capturing innovation activities as well as the actors involved in innovation activities are very different from those identified in the literature as informed by the Frascati and Oslo manuals used for capturing innovation and innovation activities. Also, the nature of the relationship among the actors and stakeholders in the innovation system follows a soft (informal) approach. These alternative patterns include learning by doing, using, interacting, imitating, producing and searching for business innovation. The study also advanced the importance of tacit knowledge acquired through on-the-job learning, the traditional apprenticeship system, indigenous knowledge system, amongst others. Finally, the study identified a high prevalence of innovation in the informal sector in Nigeria.
Innovation Types and Firm Performance in Nigeria
The study investigated the existence of innovation types and examined their effects on firm performance in Nigeria's manufacturing industry. Using logistic regression analysis, data were sourced from forty-eight (48) non-quoted manufacturing firms (consisting of food, beverages and tobacco; textile, apparel and footwear; non-metallic, pharmaceuticals and cement) to examine the effect of innovation types on firms' performance. The results confirmed the existence of product, process, marketing and organisational innovations and also identified recruitment modelling and talent management as other organisational innovation techniques employed in Nigeria's manufacturing industry. In addition, the study showed that product innovation (t = 0.67; p < 0.05) and patent rights (t = 2.13; p < 0.05) had positive and significant effects on firm performance. The findings of this study recommend that firms should focus on improving the combined effects of product, marketing, process and organisational innovations. In addition, organisational policies should be geared towards human capital development to achieve greater manufacturing performance required for industrial growth and economic development.
2020
Mining activity has been contributing to the income of resource-rich developing countries but it has also been considered as a “curse” for economic development. Reviews of a literature from innovation perspective reveal that the sector has the following mutually-influencing constraints on innovation: a) the commodity price is volatile and exogenously-determined, leaving no scope for differentiation; b) mining firms have low incentive for investing in knowledge (e.g. research and development (R & D)) due to low appropriability; c) development of mines require large, upfront, and long-term investments, leaving no room to take additional risks; d) mining firms tend to operate in an enclave, with limited backward and forward linkages; and e) comparative advantage is largely determined by the presence of mineral deposit not by productive capability. This study aims to bring together evidence to understand the innovation mechanisms in the mining sector. We uncovered that innovation and li...
2018
This study contributes to the growing literature on innovation capability in the informal sector in Nigeria. It explores the role of openness as a facilitator for measuring innovation capability, and proposes openness as a metric for the measurement of innovation capability in the informal sector. This new metric was tested using 200 informal information and communication technology (ICT) enterprises at the Otigba hardware cluster, which is located in the Nigerian commercial capital of Lagos and is regarded as a key ICT hub in West Africa. The main research instrument was a set of questionnaires designed to capture the core objective of the research. All 200 questionnaires were retrieved and found suitable for analysis. The questionnaires elicited information on the socio-demographic characteristics of the enterprises, the attributes of the Otigba cluster, the strength of the enterprises, the strength of the cluster, the extent of innovations within the cluster, and the proximity advantages drawn from clustering. Spearman’s correlation and binary logistic regression were used to determine the direction and impact of the various independent variables (determinants of innovation capability) on the dependent variable (the extent of innovation as a proxy for innovation capability). It was found that openness plays a very significant role in access to: information, customers, new domestic markets, tools and technology, suppliers of raw materials, and inputs. However, openness was found to play only a limited role in finished products for the export market. It was also found that much more still needs to be done by the enterprises to build up their internal capabilities, so as to reduce their reliance on external sources of knowledge—notwithstanding the fact that exposure to external capabilities, through cooperation and openness, will remain necessary to complement enterprises’ internal capabilities.
International Journal of Innovation Science, 2015
Innovation is not just an individual act of learning by a firm or entrepreneur, but anchored within a larger system that enables and draws on the innovation process. Hence there is need to study internal and external factors that influence technological innovation outputs of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs at four industrial estates in Nigeria were sampled for this study. Several internal factors such as firm size, turnover, age, ownership, and expenditure on innovation activities did not have significant relationships with innovation output, signifying they are not the factors promoting innovation levels. Quality of human resources and interactions with suppliers as an external factor within the national innovation system (NIS) both made significant impact on innovation. Innovative performance of the firms is mainly influenced by demand or market pull factors more than technology push sources. The study recommends increasing interaction and dynamism within the NIS; substa...