Strengthening the Innovation Resilience of Polish Manufacturing Firms in Unstable Environments

Abstract This study examines factors that increase resilience in innovation of Polish manufacturing firms in an unstable environment. Organizational resilience in innovation is the ability to continuously perform innovation in a turbulent environment and increase knowledge accumulation. In 2008–2012, Poland did not have crisis itself. Short-term slowdown of the economy was accompanied by a breakdown of innovation activities, with a medium-term effect. Based on the Polish Community Innovation Survey panel data for two periods: the innovation crisis (2008–2010), and the innovation pessimism period (2010–2012), this study shows which innovative resources change the probability of innovation continuity in the second period. In our probit model, we explore 42 factors of innovations. We found that financing, R&D and marketing increased the probability of continuity of innovation, but the influence of financing was the strongest. Persistence in innovation in turbulent times hence requires a change in the structure of innovation resources used. Due to the fact that public support on innovation did not increase the likelihood of the continuity of the innovation, a policy change is required. Reliability of our estimation is confirmed by accuracy of prediction of firms, which was 78.2%.