Innovations and Entrepreneurship at a Time of Financial Crisis in Czech and Austrian Construction Industries
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship ECIE 2014 |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Management and administrative |
| Keywords | Innovation; financial crisis; business cooperation; construction industry; small and middle-sized businesses |
| Description | This article describes the approach of construction companies in the border areas of the Czech Republic and Austria to innovation activities during the recent financial crisis. Within the project Development of Small and Middle-Sized Businesses in Border Areas, research into the cross-border cooperation of small and middle-sized construction companies was carried out in 2013, involving businesses active in the regions of South Moravia, Lower Austria and the city of Vienna. The research comprises 279 respondents, of which 176 were from the Czech Republic and 103 from Lower Austria and Vienna. Among other items, questioning was focused on innovation potential in the development of new products and services. The research was a follow-up event to the M00200 Cross-Border Cooperation project. Among other findings, the research shows different approaches taken by Czech and Austrian entrepreneurs to innovation activities. The research was focused in particular on the relation between the receipts from innovated products and/or services and the size of the enterprise as well as on the impact of collaboration in innovations, research and development. All the factors were studied as a continuation of theoretical support and search for secondary sources in the construction industry in both countries. An interesting result is the fact that the innovation potential tends to be carried by small companies. This fact contradicts the results of statistical analyses highlighting large enterprises as carriers of the innovation potential. Another finding is that the cooperation of enterprises in product and innovation development does not affect the turnover or the receipts from innovated products. The theoretical assumption that business cooperation would affect turnover and receipts from innovated products was not confirmed. These facts are probably linked to external factors, given by the unfavourable situation of the financial crisis, which is reflected in the construction industry in particular as well as in political and legislative interventions in both countries |
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