Towards an appropriate comprehension of innovation sources in agrifood cooperatives

The existing typologies of innovation sources rely on classification criterions which are excessivelygeneralist and developed under the consideration of private owned organisations. The presentpaper seeks to shed light on the special structural and operative features of agrifood cooperatives demandinga more comprehensive classification of innovation sources. A sample from the agrifood cooperativeindustry was selected as the scenario of the empirical research. Findings reveal a classification proposalof innovation sources into four differentiated groups (managers, technology, market and normative context)with regard to the management orientation of change (strategic vs. technical/legal) and the strengthmotivating the innovation (internal vs. external).