The Multiple Perception of Innovation: The Case of Micro and Small Enterprises in the Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace

Abstract

This paper explores how innovation is perceived, on the one hand, by the scientific literature and, on the other, by the everyday practice of small and micro enterprises operating in the less developed socioeconomic system of the Greek region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. Our aim is to find out whether there are different perceptions of innovation from two different "worlds", the theoretical and the practical. For this, we conducted an introductory and qualitative field research on a sample of small and micro enterprises in the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. We found there is a notable distance in the perception of innovation between the scientific theory and the everyday practice of micro and small enterprises in this less developed region in Greece.

Keywords: Innovation multiplicity, Innovation definitions, Micro and small enterprises, Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace