Innovation and Financial Performance in Manufacturing Companies: an Empirical Study Tunisian

Abstract

This study focuses on the innovation activities as determinants of the financial value of the firm. This approach breaks with the binary approach to measure the degree of innovation and replaces it by an aggregative index. The innovation level corresponding to a set of innovation activities is reported on the basis of a “scoring” for the processed industrial enterprises. On the basis of this proposal, we develop a quantitative measure of the level of innovation in order to evaluate the impact of innovation on the financial performance, controlling for some other variables. On a sample of 95 Tunisian industrial companies, empirical results showed that financial performance depends on the realization of innovation activities and the disclosure of these innovation activities. The empirical research field is Tunisia. In fact, it is an example of a developing country that has been involved in an important national program since 1995 of upgrading companies to help them cope with international competition. This national program is also meant to restructure Tunisian companies by encouraging them to invest in intangible investment so as to stimulate innovation which leads to a sustainable competitive advantage.