Innovation activity in enterprises in Sweden 2014-2016:
Better profitability – the main reason for innovations in logistics
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2018-02-23 9.30
Among Swedish enterprises involved in innovation activities, 43 percent introduced innovations in logistics in 2014–2016.The main reason for the introduction was to improve the enterprise’s performance, according to results in the latest Community Innovation Survey (CIS).
For enterprises in many sectors, growth and competitive power to a large extent hinge on an efficient logistics system, as they often support enterprises’ business processes and supply chains, and impact enterprises’ capacity to be innovative and to expand.
In the latest CIS, Statistics Sweden has endeavoured to determine the presence of innovation in logistics. Enterprises were asked whether they had introduced innovations in logistics, and their reasons for doing so. The enterprises that had not introduced any innovations were asked to state their reasons for this.
Among enterprises with innovation activities, 43 percent had introduced innovations in logistics. Large enterprises introduced innovations in logistics to a greater extent than small and medium-sized enterprises. Innovations in logistics were more common among manufacturing enterprises than among service-producing enterprises.
| Share of enterprises with innovation in logistics | ||
|---|---|---|
|
All surveyed industries
|
Total
|
43 |
|
|
10-49 employees
|
41 |
|
|
50-249 employees
|
49 |
|
|
250 employees or more
|
54 |
|
Enterprises in the manufacturing sector
|
Total
|
45 |
|
|
10-49 employees
|
43 |
|
|
50-249 employees
|
50 |
|
|
250 employees or more
|
57 |
|
Enterprises in the service sector
|
Total
|
42 |
|
|
10-49 employees
|
41 |
|
|
50-249 employees
|
49 |
|
|
250 employees or more
|
52 |
Improving the enterprise’s performance was the primary reason stated for introducing innovations in logistics. This applied in both the manufacturing and the service sectors and in all size classes. The least important reason for introducing innovations in logistics according to enterprises was in response to existing or forthcoming regulatory provisions. Only seven percent of the enterprises stated this reason.
| Open up new market opportunities | Improve your enterprise’s performance | Respond to market pressures | Respond to cost pressures | Respond to existing or forthcoming regulatory provisions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
All surveyed industries
|
Total
|
22 | 30 | 21 | 22 | 7 |
|
|
10-49 employees
|
22 | 28 | 19 | 20 | 7 |
|
|
50-249 employees
|
22 | 34 | 24 | 25 | 8 |
|
|
250 employees or more
|
29 | 46 | 32 | 37 | 9 |
|
Enterprises in the manufacturing sector
|
Total
|
16 | 24 | 14 | 19 | 6 |
|
|
10-49 employees
|
15 | 21 | 11 | 17 | 5 |
|
|
50-249 employees
|
16 | 29 | 21 | 21 | 7 |
|
|
250 employees or more
|
25 | 43 | 28 | 37 | 8 |
|
Enterprises in the service sector
|
Total
|
25 | 34 | 24 | 24 | 9 |
|
|
10-49 employees
|
25 | 32 | 24 | 22 | 8 |
|
|
50-249 employees
|
26 | 38 | 25 | 28 | 9 |
|
|
250 employees or more
|
32 | 49 | 36 | 37 | 10 |
The most common innovation in logistics among enterprises was e-procurement, for example new forms of purchasing and selling materials and goods via the internet or other information systems between suppliers and enterprises. This was followed by digital supply chain management, which includes paperless, transparent supply chain transactions.
Enterprises stating that they did not introduce any innovations in logistics were asked to select the reason that best described why they did not introduce any innovations in logistics. No compelling reason to innovate was unmistakeably most important and was the option indicated by 68 percent of the enterprises that responded to this question. In this context, there was no difference between manufacturing and service-producing enterprises, as they stated no compelling reason to the same extent.
Enterprises stating that they considered introducing innovations in logistics but faced obstacles were asked to specify the obstacle. Financial obstacles was the main reason stated. This was followed by other obstacles and technical obstacles as reasons for not introducing innovations in logistics.
Definitions and explanations
Enterprises with innovation activities include:
- Enterprises that introduced new product and/or process innovations in 2014–2016
- Enterprises that introduced organisational innovations in 2014–2016
- Enterprises that introduced marketing innovations in 2014–2016
- Enterprises that abandoned or suspended a new product or process innovation in 2014–2016
- Enterprises that had ongoing activities to develop new products or processes that were not yet completed at the end of 2016
Logistics is defined as:
Logistics is a set of services that includes planning, organisation, management, execution and monitoring of an enterprise’s entire material, goods and related information flows (flows from purchasing, production and warehousing, to added value services, distribution and reverse logistics).
Publication
A more detailed report of this survey is published in the Statistical Report:
Innovation activity in Swedish Enterprises 2014–2016
Next publishing will be
The next statistical news in this series will be published on 2018-05-25 at 09:30.
Statistical Database
More information is available in the Statistical Database
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.