Comparative Analysis of Innovative Activity Determinants of SME Sector in Brazil and Poland

The basic goal of this paper is an attempt to conduct comparative analysis of innovation determinants in companies of small and medium enterprises sector in Brazil and Poland. The comparison shall enable evaluation which determinants stimulate and which are barriers to innovativeness development in the SME sector in the researched countries. The authors put forward the following research hypothesis: H1: The determinants forming the innovative potential are similar for Brazilian and Polish companies of SME sector. In order to confirm or negate the hypothesis, the authors have conducted empirical researches of the innovative activities' determinants in the SME sector companies in Brazil and Poland (an Internet questionnaire has been used in the research). The received results have been subject to basic statistical comparative analysis and on this basis with the logical induction the authors have made conclusions on the determinants of innovative activity in researched companies. The applied research method is based on the analysis of the innovative processes taking place in companies - with a special consideration of the nature of innovative processes taking place in SME sector. The article includes the results of all the empirical researches conducted by the authors in the years 2009-2013. The obtained results enable the confirmation of the thesis put forward by the authors - determinants forming the innovative potential are similar for Brazilian and Polish companies of SME sector.