Difussion of Innovations in Specialty Livestock Systems: Ostrich Companies in Mexico

The low productivity in ostrich commercial production units is characteristic of countries where the activity is incipient; as in Mexico, with 320 intensive production units from 1991 to 2017, of which only about 30 remain in operation. To improve productivity and encourage the permanence of the activity, it is important to adopt the applied knowledge in the leading countries in production. In this sense, the objective of this study was to identify the main sources of innovation for companies that remain active. For this, the level of knowledge applied by twenty companies was determined, as well as the sources from which they obtain it. The most significant source of innovation for Mexican ostrich producing companies is the interaction between them, since it allows to increase the level of knowledge applied in about 20% (p <0.1). It was also found that the level of applied knowledge has a favorable influence on the productivity of companies (p <0.1). In conclusion, the innovation network of ostrich-producing companies in Mexico is distinguished by a high peer collaboration, a situation normally found in the literature concerning emerging productive sectors.