Organizational Innovation and its Link with Technological Innovation in SMEs: Empirical Evidence for Lower Normandy – France

In the present study, we define synthetic and relevant indicators of organizational innovation and measure the link of these indicators with various types of technological innovations (product innovation, process innovation, and hybrid innovations). They are constructed from sixteen variables reflecting organizational innovation with the aid of multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) method. The variables are grouped in five categories corresponding to different aspects of organizational changes, such as training & qualification, knowledge management, production management, quality, and market transaction. We then use a regression to estimate the link between organizational innovation indicators and technological innovations (product, process and their interaction). The original database exploited is part of the IDEIS project and relates to a representative sample of 90 SMEs in Lower Normandy - France. Our estimated indicators interpret the Intensity of the implementation of the Organizational Changes (IOC) and the orientation of the Organizational Innovation Strategies adopted (OIS). We find a positive and significant link between IOC and technological innovation (product innovation, process innovation, and hybrid innovations), particularly so for product innovation. However, we find no clear link between the choice of the OIS and technological innovation.