As organizações, em geral, têm buscado a inovação como meio para obtenção de vantagem competitiva. No contexto das micro e pequenas empresas (MPEs), essa prática tem sido apoiada pelo Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas (SEBRAE) por meio do programa Agentes Locais de Inovação (ALI), que tem como objetivo fortalecer a prática da inovação pela identificação de oportunidades para inovar. A principal ferramenta utilizada neste trabalho é o Radar da Inovação, que tem como base o trabalho original de Sawhney, Wolcott e Arroniz (2006). Este artigo buscou alcançar dois objetivos i) analisar como as MPEs podem utilizar o Radar como instrumento para a construção de estratégias para a inovação; ii) analisar comparativamente os setores participantes da amostra no que se refere à dimensão em que ocorre a inovação bem como a importância da inovação para cada setor analisado. A amostra do estudo foi composta de 1139 micro e pequenas empresas que aderiram ao programa ALI em 2012, Localizadas no Estado do Paraná. Os dados foram analisados por meio de testes estatísticos como o de Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney entre outros. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que as MPEs inovam por meio de dimensões semelhantes do Radar, ainda que pertençam a setores diferentes. Contudo, a diferença entre os setores analisados está na intensidade da inovação, que mostrou-se mais robusta no setor de software e mais fraca no setor moveleiro. Verificou-se ainda que muitas dimensões do Radar foram pouco exploradas, o que mostra grande potencial para obtenção de vantagem competitiva por meio da inovação.

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Purpose Innovation has been widely studied in business and economics, but different innovation and innovativeness measures have been used by scholars. Within this context, this research aims to identify the main innovation and innovativeness measures used by high-impact or recent papers within the past 10 years. Design/methodology/approach Regarding methodology, the bibliometric process Proknow-C was used, selecting 26 papers from a sample exceeding 2,000 articles in the Web of Science database. Findings Based on the literature review, these articles’ innovativeness measures were classified in terms of inputs, capabilities and outputs. In summary, the articles of the bibliometric portfolio used diverse innovativeness measures comprising inputs (R&D investments, R&D staff qualification, patents, etc.), capabilities and processes (culture, leadership, knowledge, strategy, etc). and outputs (number of innovations, percentage of revenues of innovative products, etc.). Furthermore, a new innovativeness classification was proposed with eight types of organizations considering the presence of inputs, capabilities and outputs. Research limitations/implications Although Proknow-C is an established bibliometric process, it naturally has some limitations to select a bibliometric portfolio of approximately 20 articles from a sample exceeding 2,000 articles. The major limitations involve the filters used, such as aligned titles, number of citations in Google Scholar, Pareto principle, aligned abstracts and full text availability. Originality/value This research contributes to theory, as it covers high-impact and recent papers concerning innovativeness, specifically by analysing the main measures used and by gathering recommended future research directions, beyond proposing an innovativeness classification. It also contributes to practice, as it gathers diverse innovation measures, which could be used by managers in their organizations.

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the characteristics of Brazilian micro and small businesses (MSBs) and the main lessons derived from the largest small business innovation support program in the country, the Local Innovation Agents – Agentes Locais de Inovação (ALI) Program. Design/methodology/approach In total, 34 papers were selected from the Web of Science and Scopus databases (28), as well as from the Revista de Administração e Inovação – RAI (6), a seminal Brazilian innovation journal. The papers were analyzed in terms of the regional context, methodological approach and main findings. Regional complementary analyzes of some program figures were also performed by Spearman correlation and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Findings The review revealed a low innovation level among Brazilian MSBs and that the platform (incremental product) and brand (marketing) innovation dimensions were the most developed across different regions and industries. Reviewed papers also showed that all MSBs were able to improve innovation over the program independent of previous management and innovation levels, besides positive relationships between management and innovation. The complementary analysis provided a regional panorama of the program figures and corroborated MSBs innovation improvement. Research limitations/implications This review analyzed relevant papers and figures related to the program, summarized main lessons and provided future research venues. Practical implications Different innovation strategies reviewed may be implemented by MSBs owners. Policymakers may also benefit from the program experience. Originality/value Despite the high number of publications and the relevance of the largest Brazilian innovation support program, there were still no literature reviews comprehending the diverse lessons derived from the ALI Program, as well as a regional panorama of the program figures.