CNI: 82% of small industries have innovated at least once
Small companies consider innovation as a strategy to stay in the market, but they still find it difficult to innovate. This is what reveals a survey by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), carried out by the FSB Pesquisa Institute with executives from 500 small industries (from 10 to 49 employees). According to the data, 82% of these companies have innovated at least once in the last three years.
However, according to CNI, despite the vast majority of them having innovated, in general small companies still do not have the structure to make innovation a continuous activity. According to the survey, 68% do not have an innovation area and 76% do not have a specific budget for innovation or professionals dedicated exclusively to this purpose. But for 57% of executives, the importance the company places on innovation is high or very high.
Pandemic
The numbers also show that, during the covid-19 pandemic, 68% of small industries innovated and had gains in profitability, productivity and competitiveness.
According to the survey, 45% of companies indicated that the difficulty to innovate in the period of covid-19 had increased, while 19% considered that the difficulty to innovate in the period had decreased. For 36%, it was the same.
Among the main difficulties to innovate during the pandemic, access to financial resources from sources outside the company stands out, which was declared by 20%. Next, there are difficulties in hiring professionals (9%); to obtain qualified labor (6%), budget in the company (6%); and access to the supply chain (5%).
Of the universe of 500 small industries interviewed, 78% felt the impact of the pandemic on their business, with 27% said they had been greatly harmed; 14% harmed; 17% more or less harmed; and 20% slightly impaired. For 55% of executives, the supply chain was the first or second aspect most impacted by the pandemic, followed by sales (50%) and the relationship with workers (19%).
According to CNI, the survey also reveals that 45% of small companies had more difficulties in innovating due to the pandemic. However, for 19% who considered it difficult to innovate, the process improved in the pandemic. Executives consider partnerships important for innovation in their companies. For them, the main partners to innovate are: suppliers (16%), banks (15%) and other companies (11%).
Innovation is considered essential by 68% of small companies that did not innovate during this period. Thinking about a post-pandemic world, 80% say they will have to invest in innovation to grow or remain in the market. The Northeast (93%) and South (81%) regions are the ones that most believe in innovation for the future of companies.
Technology advances
Considering the advances in technology during the pandemic period, 78% of companies made progress, at some level, in the adoption of new digital technologies. As a result, 49% of companies increased their sales volume during the pandemic, 47% are producing more efficiently and 46% have increased their production volume.
According to CNI, the executives also highlighted that the relationship with the customer and marketing are the priority items for the post-pandemic. For the next three years, the priorities will be the expansion of sales volume, production with lower costs and more efficiency, in addition to increasing production volume.
remote work
In the pandemic, 43% of companies adopt remote work. The Northeast and Southeast regions were the ones that had more employees in remote work: 52% and 45% of the companies, respectively.
Of the companies that adopted the home office , 35% will permanently maintain this model in the post-pandemic period, while another 65% say they do not intend to adhere to this work model.
The survey shows that 45% of small businesses had to invest in tools for conducting online meetings, 43% invested in cloud storage services and 42% in automation tools.
Text translated using artificial intelligence.
