期刊名称：International Journal of Economic Sciences and Applied Research
印刷版ISSN：1791-5120
电子版ISSN：1791-3373
出版年度：2011
卷号：4
期号：1
出版社：Kavala Institute of Technology
摘要：During the last decades, traditional manufacturing firms in Western economies have
undergone a rapid transformation. Two effects of the globalised economy prompting firms to
outsource labour intensive production to low wage areas are the increased market size and
the competition. Innovation is a prerequisite for a successful transformation process and this
paper analyses this process within four Danish lifestyle production industries: textile and
clothing and wood product and furniture, which are being developed from being traditional
production-oriented industries to becoming much more oriented towards knowledge intensive
production in the form of design and marketing aspects.
The analysis shows that the industries have experienced a decline in employment and a
positive development in productivity while maintaining a significant contribution to export. A
2008 survey of Danish SMEs reveals that about two thirds of the firms carry out innovative
activities. The decision to innovate is influenced by networking activities, access to financial
resources, firm strategy, export orientation, growth potentials and age of the firm while a
traditional characteristic like size does not influence the decision to innovate; innovation is a
prerequisite for firm survival in the four industries
