Purpose: Innovation has been traditionally considered as a generator of competitiveness. Despite the increasing importance of innovation in the literature, there is no agreement about its antecedents. This clearly makes difficult and risky for the managers to choose suitable strategies to promote and develop successful innovations. The present research attempts to contribute to this important area by providing some critical insights on the origins of the innovative behaviour of the firms; namely: market orientation and entrepreneurial proclivity.Design/methodology/approach: To reach our goal we used in-depth case research methodology in furniture firms from Italy, Spain and Finland.Findings: The article contributes to the understanding of why some firms are more innovative than others. The study shows some evidence that market orientation and the entrepreneurship can be considered as antecedents of innovation.Research limitations/implications: We provide evidence that the furniture industry shows a tendency to innovate based on its market orientation along with its entrepreneurial proclivity probably due to the fact that it is a traditional, non-globalized low-tech sector. Future studies might also address other variables related to different competitive settings.Practical implications: This work presents direct implications for companies aiming at improving their innovation capabilities. First, it is recommended that entrepreneurial firms should promote a market orientation philosophy, and second, they also need the top management commitment in terms of people and financial resources to achieve its goals.Originality/value: This article offers an insight to explain why some companies are more successful at starting and developing innovation than others. The finding that a successful innovation profile is related to entrepreneurship and the market orientation of the company represents an interesting contribution to the management of firms.