Barriers to innovation in Morocco: The Case of Tangier & Tetouan Region

Öz

Innovations are the result of a joint effort of a number of parties involved in the process of improving a country. Innovation has increasingly been reconigsed to be the key growth of Morocco and has attracted significant levels of academic attention over recent years. Nevertheless, there has however been less focus on the factors which prevent or inhibit innovative activity, the “barriers approach to innovation” especially in developing countries. In the Arab regions, studies on barriers to innovation are sparingly rare. There has not been research in the relevant literature that has identified the innovation barriers in Morocco; a detailed review related to innovation barriers has been conducted. This paper reports on the results of a study that examined barriers to firms’ innovation on a sample of 76 managers of enterprises in the Tangier&Tetouan region. Tangier&Tetouan is a dynamic region, and is also the recipient of generous investment, and is considered a strategic area for the development of Morocco. Indeed, the region is an important industrial center at the national level, occupying second place with 10% domestic value added, almost 8% of production and 14% of exports. The aim of this study is to determine the barriers in the innovation process in the Tangier&Tetouan region, and investigate the interrelations among them and develop a model that may measure the interacting effects of the barriers.
The approach is based on a review of the scientific papers; analysis of available statistical data, national development documents, empirical researches and other secondary data. An in-depth study of fifteen barriers to innovation was completed through distributing questionnaires. The results were initially summarized using statistics to provide a better understanding of the respondents and characteristics of the responding companies. The paper concludes with an analysis of the complementarities between obstacles to arrive at the primary factors that are obstacles to innovation activity. Both internal and external determinants play a significant role in hindering innovation development. The analysis also explores the differences between firms by industry type and firm size. Furthermore, the level of importance of obstacles is different for innovator and non-innovator firms. Among the main results set for this research it cannot generalize the model of innovation in the region of Tangier&Tetouan.  
This paper is should be taken as the first study not only in investigating the barriers in the innovation process in Tangier&Tetouan region, but also in developing a model that may be used in solving the innovation barriers. The results of the study may be useful for both government and entreprises. The research results can be used in the development of public policy aimed at supporting and encouraging innovation among entreprises in Tangier&Tetouan region.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Innovation Barriers,Interrelation,Model,Tangier&Tetouan region

Kaynakça

1. Acs, ZJ and DB Audretsch (1991). R&D, Firm Size and Innovative Activity.
2. Afrooz, N (2012). A Study of Levels and Characteristics of Innovation Activity, Global Journal of Management and Business Research, Volume 12 Issue 8 Version 1.0 May 2012, Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal, Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA), Online ISSN: 2249-4588 & Print ISSN: 0975-5853.
3. Baldwin, J and X Lin (2002). Impediments to advanced technology adoption for Canadian manufacturers. Research Policy, 31, 1 –18.
4. Canepa, A, and P. Stoneman. (2002), Financial constraints on innovations: A European cross country study, Kiel Institute of World Economics, Working paper no. 02-11.
5. Chaminade, C, BA Lundvall, KJ Joseph and J Vang. (2009). Innovation Systems and Developing Countries an introduction in Lundvall. Building Domestic Capabilities in a Global Setting. Edward Elgar, UK, an introduction.
6. Clancy, J. (2001). Barriers to Innovation in Small-scale Industries: Case Study from the Briquetting Industry in India’, Science Technology&Society 6(2), 329–357.
7. Dalkey, N and O Helmer. (1963). An experimental application of the Delphi method to the use of expert. Management Science, 9(3), 458-467.
8. Demirbas, D. (2010). How do Entrepreneurs Perceive Barriers to Innovation? Empirical Evidence from Turkish SMEs, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK.

9. D’Este, P., S Iammarino, M Savona and N Von Tunzelmann. (2008). What hampers innovation? Evidence from the UK CIS4, SWEPS Electronic Working Paper Series, SPRU 168.
10. Dougherty, D. (1992). Interpretive barriers to successful product innovations in large firms. Organ. Sci.3(2) 179–202.
11. Dosi, G.. (1988), «The nature of the innovative process», dans G. Dosi, C. Freeman, R. Nelson, et al. (dir.), Technical Change and Economic Theory, Londres, Pinter Publishers Ltd., p.221-238.
12. Fes. (2004). SME and Innovation. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Paper 10/2004.
13. Galia, F and D Legros (2004). Complementarities between obstacles to innovation: evidence from France, Research Policy, 33, 1185–1199.
14. Gobé M. (2001). Emotional branding: the new paradigm for connecting brands to people Business /design. New York.
15. González, X, J Jaumandreu and C Pazó (2005). Barriers to innovation and subsidy effectiveness’, RAND Journal of Economics 36(4), 930–950.
16. Hadjimanolis, A. (1999). Barriers to innovation for SMEs in a small less developed country (Cyprus), Technovation, 19, 561–570.
17. Hadjimanolis, A. (2003). The Barriers approach to innovation», The International Handbook on Innovation, Oxford, Elsevier Science Ltée, p. 559-573.
18. Henderson, R. (1993). Under investment and incompetence as responses to radical innovation: evidence from the photolithographic alignment equipment industry. Rand Journal of Economics 24, 248–270.
19. Iammarino, S and P McCann (2006). The Structure and Evolution of Industrial Clusters: Transactions, Technology and Knowledge Spillovers. Research Policy, n° 35, pp. 1018-1036.
20. Kamalian, A, M Rashki and ML Arbabi (2011). Barriers to Innovation among Iranian SMEs. Asian Journal of Business Management 3(2): 79-90, 2011. ISSN: 2041-8752.
21. Madiès, T and JC Prager (2008). Innovation et compétitivité des regions. Un rapport réalisé en PAO au Conseil d’Analyse Économique Français par Christine Carl.
22. Madrid-Guijarro, A, G Domingo and H Van Auken (2009). Barriers to Innovation among spanish manufacturing SMEs. J. Small Bus. Manage. Milwaukee, 47(4): 465, 24.
23. Mandal, A and SG Deskumukh (1994). Vendor Selection Using Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM). International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 14(6) 52-59.
24. March-Chordà, I, A Gunasekaran and B Lloria-Aramburo (2002). Product development process in Spanish SMEs: an empirical research. Technovation 22(5), 301–312.
25. Mohnen, P and L Roller (2005). Complementarities in innovation policy. European Economic Review, 49: 6, 1431-1450.
26. Mohnen, P and J Rosa (2002). Barriers to innovation in service industries in Canada. In: Feldman, M., Massard, N. (Eds.), Institutions and Systems in the Geography of Innovation, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, 231–250.
27. Mohnen, P, F Palm, S Van Der Loeff and A Tiwari (2008). Financial constraints and other obstacles: are they a threat to innovation activity? De Economist 156 (2), 201–214.
28. Nelson, and Winter (1982). An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
29. Ohmae, K (1995). The End of the Nation State: The Rise of Regional Economies, Harper Collins, Londres.
30. Piatier, A (1984). Barriers to innovation. Frances Pinter, London.
31. Ould Aoudia J (2006). «Croissance et réformes dans les pays arabes méditerranéens», Notes et Documents No. 28, Agence Française de Développement, Paris.
32. Preissl (1998). Barriers to innovation in services. SI4S Topical Paper STEP Group.
33. Rahmouni, M (2011). Perception of obstacles to innovation activities in Tunisian firms. MPRA Paper No. 18306, posted 19. January 2011.
34. Saatçioglu, Ö and Ö Özmen (2010). Analyzing the Barriers Encountered in Innovation Process Through Interpretive Structural Modelling: Evidence From Turky. Yonetim Ve Ekonomi.
35. Segarra-Blasco, A, J Garcia-Quevedo, M Teruel-Carrizosa (2008). Barriers to innovation and public policy in Catalonia, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 4, 431–451.
36. Schumpeter, JA (1950). Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. 3rd Ed. NewYork: Harper&Row.
37. Silva, MJ, J Leitao and M Raposo (2008). Barriers to Innovation Faced by Manufacturing Firms in Portugal: How to Overcome it for Fostering Business Excellence. International Journal of Business Excellence 1, 92–105.
38. Tiwari, R and S Buse (2007). Barriers to innovation In SMEs: Can the internationalization of R&D Mitigate their Effects? Proceedings of the First European Conference on Knowledge for Growth: Role and Dynamics of Corporate R&D (Concord 2007), Seville, Spain.
39. Tourigny D., Le C.D. (2004), Impediments to innovation faced by Canadian manufacturing firms, Economics of Innovation and New Technology 13 :3, 217-50.
40. Von Hippel, E (1988). The sources of innovation, New-York, Oxford University Press, 218 p.
41. Woolthuis, RK (2005). A system failure framework for innovation policy design. Technovation 25: 609-619.
42. Yinenpaa, H (1998). Measures to Overcome Barriers to Innovation in Sweden. Paper EFMD European Small Business Seminar in Vienna, 1998, online;http://www.res.luth.se/org/Rapporter/AR9826.pdf last accessed 21.5.2006 Acs, Z. J. et D.B.
43. Zhu, Y, X Wittmann and Mike W. Peng (2011). Institution-based barriers to innovation in SMEs in China. Asia Pac J Manag DOI 10.1007/s10490-011-9263-7.