Innovation protection in the Dutch printing industry

Although the scholarly attention for innovation by SMEs is beyond discussion, much of the protective behaviour of SMEs concerning their innovations is unknown. A survey was sent to 1,337 SMEs from the Dutch Printing Industry, containing questions on: the firm; the entrepreneur; and a recent product or process innovation. The degree of formality of the protection of product innovations turns out to be influenced by: innovativeness; public financial support; cooperation; the educational level of the entrepreneur; the experience of the entrepreneur; and, surprisingly, by lower innovation investments, and rural locations. The degree of formality of the protection of process innovations is influenced by: public financial support; the newness of the innovation; the innovativeness of the innovation; and, again contrary to what we expected, lower innovation investments and the rural location of the firm. The lifespan of the innovation and firm size turned out not to play any role at all. © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.