Wpływ powiązań z dostawcami i odbiorcami w łańcuchu dostaw na aktywność innowacyjną przemysłu spożywczego w zachodniej Polsce

The article presents the results of a study which aims to determine the effect of the number of industrial vertical linkages and participation in the supply chain on innovation activity of food industry in western Poland. The main research hypothesis is the assumption that innovation processes in food industry are strongly determined by the intensity and nature of the linkages and membership in the supply chain. The scope of the survey relates to innovation in food industry, concerns innovation at the company level and takes into account the diffusion to the “new to the company”. Innovative activities are divided into three general groups including: expenditure on research and development and investments in fi xed assets not used so far (such as: buildings, premises and land, machinery and equipment, computer software), implementation of new products and processes, and innovative collaboration. The survey covers 422 industrial enterprises. The methodological part of the study uses probit modelling that enables to identify the probability of occurrence of innovation activity.