The factors constraining innovation performance of SMEs in Croatia

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of the sample.

Firms that report innovation development (%)	79.8
Continuous R&D (%)	42.6
Occasional R&D (%)	26.6
No R&D (%)	30.9
R&D expenditure (mean, in HRK)	792,747
Number of R&D staff (mean)	2.9
Number of employees (mean)	32.3
Number of employees with university degree (mean)	11.6

Source: authors’ calculations.

Table 2. Means and factor loadings.

		Means	Factor loadings
Factor 1	Insufficient support from top management	1.60	0.821
	Insufficient support from colleagues in the firm	1.56	0.949
	Insufficient support from other business functions	1.69	0.844
	Business strategy currently applied	1.73	0.683
	Unsupportive and rigid organisational structure	2.26	0.704
	Lack of communication inside the firm	2.23	0.837
Factor 2	Unavailability of bank loans	2.80	0.750
	Lack of external sources of finance	3.04	0.882
	Imperfections of financial market	3.03	0.850
Factor 3	Main market too small	3.13	0.654
	Main market too saturated	2.60	0.739
	Market dominated by incumbent	3.41	0.791
	Impossible to find a suitable partner for cooperation	2.70	0.307
	Regulations too rigid	3.32	0.516
Factor 4	Perceived risk	1.70	0.493
	Patent policy	2.62	0.974

Source: authors’ calculations.

Table 3. Mean values of constraining factors, N=94.

		Mean	Standard deviation
Factor 1	Organisational constraints	1.85	0.82
Factor 2	Financial constraints	2.96	1.22
Factor 3	Market constraints	3.11	0.96
Factor 4	Uncertainty related constraints	2.16	0.94

Source: authors’ calculations.

Table 4. Cluster means.

	Cluster 1 (21 cases)		Cluster 2 (34 cases)		Cluster 3 (39 cases)
	Mean	Standard deviation	Mean	Standard deviation	Mean	Standard deviation
Factor 1	3.03	0.79	1.46	0.41	1.54	0.44
Factor 2	3.52	0.89	1.69	0.59	3.76	0.79
Factor 3	3.31	0.96	2.47	0.78	3.57	0.80
Factor 4	3.26	0.86	1.81	0.77	1.87	0.63

Source: authors’ calculations.

Table 5. Characteristics of SMEs in three clusters.

	Cluster 1	Cluster 2	Cluster 3
Firms that report innovation development (%)	66.7	79.41	87.18
Radical innovation development (%)	42.86	61.76	64.10
Continuous R&D (%)	33.33	50.00	43.59
Occasional R&D (%)	14.29	23.53	33.33
No R&D (%)	52.38	26.47	23.08
R&D expenditure (mean, in HRK)	280,000.1	1,099,057	720,093.2
Manufacturing firms (%)	57.89	41.94	48.65
Number of R&D staff (mean)	2.71	2.16	2.69
Number of employees (mean)	39.4	40.71	21.35
Number of employees with university degree (mean)	9.05	13.58	11.37

Source: authors’ calculations.