Innovation and Competitive Characteristics in Local Forest Industry Enterprises: A Case Study; [Inovacijska i konkurentska obilježja lokalnih poduzeća drvne industrije: studija slučaja]

The forest products industry makes significant contributions to national economies in terms of basic economic indicators such as employment, expansion into rural areas, added value, investment and exports. This study aims to measure the innovation perception, awareness and competitiveness of small and medium-sized forest products enterprises operating in local areas on the basis of different variables. Within the scope of the study, a data collection tool including on-site observation, interviews and the developed scale was used on enterprises located in a local administrative region. The data obtained were subjected to hypothesis testing and correlation analysis. The findings revealed that the perception of innovation in small and medium-sized forest products industry enterprises is affected by demographic factors related to the enterprise managers, and basic factors related to the enterprise such as the number of employees, field of activity, duration of activity, annual average income, and product distribution channels. Furthermore, it has been determined that innovation awareness decreases as the scale of the enterprises shrinks. As a result, it can be said that the innovation and competition characteristics that are valid in the global and national forest products industry market are not yet fully applicable to local-scale and low-capacity enterprises.