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Innovation and Performance: Benchmarking Australian Firms
Author(s) -
Feeny Simon,
Rogers Mark
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
australian economic review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1467-8462
pISSN - 0004-9018
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8462.00285
Subject(s) - benchmarking , index (typography) , frontier , ranking (information retrieval) , business , stochastic frontier analysis , industrial organization , investment (military) , sample (material) , production–possibility frontier , production (economics) , marketing , economics , computer science , microeconomics , geography , artificial intelligence , chemistry , archaeology , chromatography , politics , world wide web , political science , law
Abstract This article empirically analyses the link between innovation and performance using a sample of large Australian firms, with a specific aim of developing benchmarking tools. Innovation is measured by firms' investment in R&D and applications for patents, trademarks and designs. An innovation index is constructed to provide one method of benchmarking. The index incorporates a firm's innovative activities into a single figure after accounting for firm size. The index provides a ranking of the most innovative firms in Australia. A second method of benchmarking uses a stochastic production frontier. This type of analysis identifies the firms which are located closest to a ‘best practice innovation frontier’.