This study investigates differences in the policies being pursued by innovative and non-innovative firms. It focuses on a broad group of strategies in marketing, finance, production, management and human resources and asks whether there are key areas in which the strategies being followed by...

This paper examines how several factors contribute to innovative activity in the Canadian manufacturing sector. First, it investigates the extent to which intellectual property right protection stimulates innovation. Second, it examines the contribution that R&D makes to innovation. Third, it...

The statistical observation that small firms have created the majority of new jobs during the 1980s has had a tremendous influence on public policy. Governments have looked to the small firm sector for employment growth and have promoted policies to augment this expansion. However, recent...

This paper examines the factors contributing to the adoption of advanced technologies in the Canadian food-processing sector. The numbers of technologies used by a plant is found to be highly correlated with expected net gains (benefits less costs). The benefits of enhanced food safety and...

Small firms are often seen to be the engines of growth. There are two main sources of empirical evidence that are adduced to support this conclusion. The first is that job creation has been coming mainly from small firms. The second is that the share of employment accounted for by small firms...

This paper investigates the characteristics of Canadian manufacturing plants that are related to the use of advanced technologies. The data used are taken from the 1989 Survey of Manufacturing Technology and are linked to administrative data taken from the Census of Manufacturers. Technology use...