Barriers to innovation in SMEs: An international comparison

Abstract

The Portuguese business frame is mainly compounded of small‐sized companies, namely small and medium enterprises, which represent 99.99% of all Portuguese firms. This reality is common to other countries and makes it relevant to study their behavior and attitudes towards competitiveness and sustainability. The present study proposes to inquire about the issue of barriers to innovation in the following circumstances: what are the barriers faced by domestic companies, how do they deal with and overcome them, and finally what is the importance of each barrier. The research identifies the main barriers in the companies surveyed which revealed as of extreme importance the current economic climate and showed the similarities between the barriers revealed in Portugal and barriers to innovation on other countries where similar studies occurred.