Strategies of Innovation and Supports to the Productivity and Competitiveness in Export Industry in Mexico

This study attempts to identify and generate empirical evidence about the characteristics and the strategies of innovation in the export industry in Puebla, Mexico. The fist stage of the investigation is developed in a conceptual frame of technological and organizational innovation. A random simple of exporters enterprises located in Mexico was designed using the parameters of Probability. In this town surveys were applied to know the structural characteristics, technological behavior and competitive development (growth in sales, employment, exports, and public support) in the firm. The quantitative methods employed were discriminant analysis and logistic regression; both will classify the inquired firms in innovating and non-innovating. In other terms, a classifying model is developed in order to rank companies according to its innovative character, applying the two tools of multivariate analysis mentioned above. It will be proved that the concept of innovation is not valued by the firms, many firms with innovating behavior do not believe they perform activities of innovation. This is innovating-firms underestimate themselves. It is sustained that innovative firms stand out because they formalize their engineering or research and development activities, they make changes to the labor organization, and development activities. The research will explain how the particular relation between innovation and R&D activities is established. The main conclusion will be that the percentage of sales devoted to R&D activities as well as the purchase of machinery and equipment abroad are key factors to be considered an innovating firm