Evaluating the Factors Affecting Innovation Processes an Empirical Study of some Industrial Sectors in Eastern Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The purpose of this paper is to study innovation processes and the factors that impact them; and how to raise the awareness of the importance of innovation which will lead to enhancing the competitive advantage and value added activities in these firms. This will lead to enhancing the economic growth of the industrial sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia(KSA). This study is an empirical in nature to assess the current position of innovation processes and activities of industrial organizations in the private sector in KSA. The sample used in this study includes sixty nine firms from the sectors of Chemical, Metal and Food industries in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom. The results show that innovation is one of the most important strategic objectives for the industrial sectors. It also shows that the most important factors that impact innovation include innovation culture, innovation strategy, expenditure on innovation, and the sources of information on innovation respectively. Moreover, the results show that there are a strong positive correlation between innovation factors and innovation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]