Identifying and categorizing the innovation performance determinants of advanced materials firms in Iran

Advanced materials sector is one of the high-tech and knowledge based areas which is recently becoming an independent industrial sector in Iran. Being innovative in this sector, in addition to its economic importance, is of strategic importance to the country. As a result, identifying the set of innovation determinants of the firms in this sector is very important. In this paper, based on the open-system approach to innovation in the firm, it has been attempted to identify and categorize the innovation performance determinants of the firms by considering the two main categories of internal and external determinants. This research is an applied, and qualitative, in terms of by the purpose, and the type of data. The research strategy is based on a multiple case studies. The statistical population of the study consisted of 370 advanced materials knowledge-based firms, in which 5 companies were selected as cases through purposeful sampling and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 9 key informants. The qualitative data were analyzed based on a systematic coding process. Focus group method was used to validate the results. The research findings show that 64 innovation determinants can be categorized into the six components of demographic characteristics, strategic characteristics, organizational competencies, sectorial characteristics, science and technology environment characteristics, and business environment characteristics. Understanding these components and their related factors will be beneficial for both managers of firms in the sector and policy makers at different levels.