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The nature of innovation amongst agri-food SMEs

Authors:
Brychan Thomas at University of South Wales
Brychan Thomas
Adrian Sparkes
Adrian Sparkes
Adrian Sparkes
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Abstract

This paper considers the nature of innovation amongst agri-food SMEs, and focuses on strategic initiatives in the agri-food industry in Wales, technology transfer, agri-food SMEs and the Internet, and bench marking and best practice.
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... The pace of technological evolutionary development is ever increasing and this is exhibited by the Internet which has reached 50 million people in just four years (Sparkes and Thomas, 2000). The nature of innovation, including the use of the Internet, amongst agri-food SMEs although slower than other sectors (Thomas and Sparkes, 2000a) is still important for the growth and development of the agri-food industry in Wales. Internet users in the home rose by 76 percent to six million in the UK during 1998, with the use at the office up 54 percent to 5.3 million in the same period (Baker, 1999). ...
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