Technical innovation in Spain's wood-based industry: The role of environmental and quality strategies

This paper uses a logit model to quantify the probability of generating technological innovations in a representative sample of firms belonging to the wood-based industry in Spain (lumber and wood products, pulp and paper, and wooden furniture). Special attention has been paid to the incidence of environmental and quality strategies in firms as being determinant factors of innovation. Econometric results have indicated that these two strategies have increased innovation generation in the wood-based industry. In general, environmental and quality strategies tend to exert positive effects on the specific innovation activities of firms, in spite of the fact that a substitution relationship was found between the existence of quality management systems and R&D subsidies. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.