Factors of successful innovation in services and a performance comparison with manufacturing sector

The objective of the research was to identify innovation factors, most influential on the successfulness of service companies. The study was performed on 173 Slovenian service and manufacturing companies. The results of the regression analysis indicate several factors, influencing total benefit arising from innovation within the service sector: innovation triggers, training staff competencies, systemic conditions, market alignment of products and identification of opportunities. Unexploited potential is indicated in terms of systemic conditions and making use of innovation triggers. Interestingly, only few significant differences among the factors' mean values in service and manufacturing sector are identified as to the statistical tests.