BARRIERS HINDERING INNOVATIONS IN SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES

Several research studies concur with the claim that the government, through its measures and active instruments, should influence the business environment, the innovation activity of enterprises and thus their competitiveness. It is the creation of motivating conditions and the elimination of some barriers that are the main area of government involvement in the innovative performance and competitiveness of the economy. The article analyzes the achievement of the goals set in the particular innovation policies of the Slovak Republic from 2008 to the present. The paper also identifies barriers which have been affecting innovation activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Slovakia for the last six years. Secondary data from the research of the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency are supported by data from empirical research performed in 2014 and repeated in 2017 in Slovakia. The authors use methods of analysis, comparison, deduction, as well as mathematical methods for processing the data collected. The representativeness of the samples was examined using Fisher's exact test. The research questions were answered by the non-parametric Friedman's test of variance analysis by ranks along with McNemar's test of marginal homogeneity among the barriers. The results confirmed that there was a significant difference among the innovation barriers to SMEs as well as in the importance of barriers to the particular size classes of respondents. Similarly, there was a shift in the rank of the most important barriers over the period of 2012 - 2017.