A natureza das inovações em agroindústrias de arroz do Rio Grande do Sul

Between other aspects, the innovations may be motivated by demands from the consumer (demand-pull), and by the needs and opportunities identified by the various departments of a business or by managers (technology-push). This article aims to carry out an analysis of the nature of radical and incremental innovations in rice's agroindustries of small, medium and large (considering the volume of rice processed), using the model of the Value Chain of the author Michael E. Porter. To do so, first, was realized a search in literature about concepts of Innovation, Value Chain and Competitiveness. As study's object was used the method of multiple cases to analyze qualitatively nine companies of rice. The results indicate that the companies of different sizes have priorities for investment in innovations of different natures. In terms of radical innovations, while small businesses are concerned with inbound logistics and infrastructure, the midsize prioritize investments in the processing of the product and the large aim innovations in marketing, sales and purchasing department, in other words, the innovations of a radical nature are located primarily in the primary activities of the Value Chain. As for innovations of incremental nature, they are in several departments, but mainly in support activities of Porter's Value Chain. It was concluded that the innovations made in the studied sector have their origin, primarily, in the demands from the market and institutional environment are, therefore, demand-pull type.