Empirical analysis of non-R&D-performing firms in the German manufacturing industry

Abstract

This chapter includes both a descriptive empirical analysis of the innovation characteristics of non-R&D-performing firms in the German manufacturing industry as well as a cluster analysis to explore their heterogeneous innovation patterns. First of all, the chapter will introduce the underlying database of the German Manufacturing Survey 2009 and identify the subsample of non-R&D-performing firms which is used for the further analysis. Secondly, it discusses the selection of indicators and measures in line with the theory. Subsequently, the descriptive analysis picks up the thread of the existing analytical approaches in the empirical literature and provides a first systematic overview of the innovation behaviour of non-R&D-performing firms. By additionally con-trasting these findings with the group of R&D-performing firms should be pos-sible to identify whether they already constitute a non-R&D-specific pattern of innovation or not. Moreover, the descriptive analysis ensures that the identified innovation indicators are adequate and feasible for describing the innovation behaviour of these firms before the subsequent cluster analysis goes one step further and elaborates on whether and how these innovation characteristics constitute heterogeneous innovation patterns among non-R&D-performing firms.