Cultural determinants of innovation effectiveness in enterprises

It is nowadays impossible for any business to implement innovation while isolated and by being based solely on its own potential, as modern innovations cannot exist without open discussion and the flow of various resources (capital, informational, material etc.) not only within the enterprise, but also between it and other entities in the market. Therefore it is partners who play an exceptional part in the processes of effectiveness of innovative activities, partners who are often exhibiting diverse characteristics and are subject to cultural conditioning. Proper selection and skilful development of relationships in such conditions of diversity is the key to success for many innovative companies. In view of the above, the aim of this paper is to determine aspects of cultural conditioning key to the effectiveness of processes of innovation, which may have influence on efficacy of cooperation. The empirical part presents results of research conducted on Polish micro, small and medium firms. It was found that these companies very rarely consciously manage their culture and this approach often closes the way to implementing many innovative activities. Opening organizational cultures to cooperate with the environment is a requirement of the twenty-first century, while a specific "key to innovation”