La radicalité de l'innovation et ses déterminants. Le cas des entreprises agroalimentaires du Languedoc Roussillon

Innovation is a widely used concept, yet poorly defined, despite the attempts to formalize it. The Oslo Manual is held up as the reference on the subject, and most surveys about business innovation are developed from the definitions proposed in this report. Innovation is, therefore, analyzed through the classical typology, following the pioneering work of Schumpeter, based on the ?nature? of innovation: product, process, organizational. In this paper, we develop a qualitative typology of innovation by focusing on the nature of innovations. We equally distinguish technological innovations (products, processes, packaging) from intangible ones (organizational) and take into account the degree of novelty of innovations. We then characterize each of these types and identify the determinants and financial performance within each category. The firm?s sector, size, governance system and some of the manager?s characteristics influence both the degree of novelty and the propensity to innovate. Finally, the degree of novelty of innovation seems to positively influence the expansion in sales.