Relations between innovation activities and exports in food and agriculture firms

The paper examines the innovation and export strategies of Spanish food and agriculture firms. It is based on a sample of these firms selected by PITEC for the period 2003-2010. The results show the key role of internal innovation efforts in international commercial activity. This highlights the importance of the capacity to absorb internal innovation efforts. Furthermore, process innovation has a greater effect than product innovation on the internationalization strategy, both for the agricultural and the food firms.