Abstract

This paper analyzes the determinants of firm's innovative activity, using Korean Innovation Survey (KIS) dataset. Especially, we focused on the role of external networks by partners(other firms or research institutions) in performing innovative activities. The product innovation, product improvement, and process innovation are used as proxies for innovative activity. The explanatory variables such as market concentration ratio, lagged profitability, foreign ownership, export ratio, firm's age, formal R&D activity, and industrial R&D intensity are also considered. With data from 1,124 firms for the two years (2000-2001), we estimated the logistic regression model. The finding is that the determinants of firm's innovative activities differ by type of innovations. We also found that the innovative behavior of SMEs differs from that of large firms. The result confirms that external networks have a strong positive effect on innovative activity. However, the network effects by partners vary across both firm size and type of innovations.

Keywords

• Innovative Activity;
• Firm Size;
• Networks;
• KIS 2002