Patterns of innovation organisation in service firms: postal survey results and theoretical models

This paper is based on a postal survey of innovation in services carried out in France. It seeks to account for the modes of organisation of innovation processes. It addresses the following themes: the sources of information; the internal and external actors involved in innovation; the costs and duration of projects; the realisation of R&D activity; experimentation; and innovation protection systems. Statistical data are used to test the validity of a certain number of theoretical models of the organisation of innovation, in particular the professionals in partnership model, the managerial model, the traditional industrial model, the neo-industrial model, the entrepreneurial model and the artisanal or craft model. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.