Innovation Development in Leading Croatian Enterprises: Review of the Most Important Findings

There is much talk in Croatia about the capability of Croatian companies to innovate. However, there is a lack of systematic studies on innovations development in Croatia. This paper aims to bridge that gap by reporting on a study that was performed on 100 leading Croatian companies. The paper addresses the structure of innovation in surveyed leading companies, and examines the novelty level of new products and processes. It explores whether firms of different sizes differ in their innovation output, and whether the continuity with which firms perform research activities has any impact on their innovation output. The sources of new product ideas are explored, as well as some preconditions for the new product success. As managing new product development improves the success rate, this paper examines the prevalence of such processes in companies. The impact of the new product development process on the innovation output is explored.