Innovation management in micro, small and medium-sized companies: a study in a Brazilian electro-electronic cluster

Innovation is an important way for corporations to increase their competitiveness. An analysis of the literature on innovation shows that almost all studies in that field keep focus on large companies. To overcome such gap, this paper focuses on the study of the Innovation Management in micro, small and medium-sized enterprise. The purpose of this study is to assess the most relevant factors related to Innovation Management of companies that compose the Electronic Valley, a cluster located in Brazil. The following dimensions regarding innovation will be herein analyzed: Strategy, Internal Processes, External Environment, Organization and Culture. Another indicator we considered is Innovative Performance, which was investigated based on data provided by the companies we analyzed. The quantitative research approached 41 corporations, approximately 28% of the general population. The regression analysis showed that the five dimensions of Innovation Management are directly associated with Innovative Performance; Culture is the most relevant variable