INNOVATIONS ACTIVENESS IN THE SMES SECTOR IN BULGARIA AND SPAIN: EMPIRICAL STUDY

Innovations are one of the most influential factors on the economic growth and this is the reason why governments nowadays have significant concern about it. Researchers and academics from many countries study the innovations activeness and the type of innovations in various industry sectors but comparing the big scope of academic research on international level, there is insufficient research on the topic of innovativeness in Bulgaria. And as SMEs present a significant part of the regional and national economies including in Bulgaria, this empirical survey in Bulgaria and Spain is based on samples of SMEs from different sectors in both countries. In order to guarantee comparativeness the same questioning instrument was employed and the analysis revealed many similarities in the attitude to innovations and the type of innovations in small and medium sized companies in both countries. According to the survey results, the SMEs in Bulgaria focus more on innovations in the promotional policy egg. the marketing communications in contrast with the small and medium-sized companies in Spain where the stress in innovations is more on changes in distribution channels and in the pricing strategies. The comparative analysis with the Spanish companies points out that concerning the innovations in “design and packaging of goods” and “usage of new methods for goods and services promotion” the behaviour of the Bulgarian and Spanish companies is similar. At the end of the paper are drawn some conclusions about the innovations activeness of the SMEs in both countries and the similar problems. KEYWORDS

Аs seen from the table the issue about the innovative activities which are closely related to R&D and especially the innovations activeness of the SMEs in Bulgaria is an actual problem and especially the problems and barriers for higher level of activeness is an extremely important research problem which can serve as a bridge between the business and the higher education institutions.
The main goal of the research paper is to compare the innovations' activeness of the SMEs in Bulgaria and Catalunia and the attitude to innovations in the SMEs in both countries.
The research objectives are:  To investigate what is the part of the SMEs in Bulgaria and Spain (Catalunia) which have made some kind of innovations in their product policy -new or improved products or services and what part of their sales are due to these products and services.
 What kind of innovations related to marketing are conducted -in product design, packaging and marketing communications for the products.
 What kind of approach to the innovations is implemented by the Bulgarian and Catalan companies  What part of the company's turnover are the investments for R&D and what part of the sales revenue is provided by the launched new products-goods and services;  What are the main problems which the companies are meeting when doing innovations: in new product and services development and in other marketing activities.
The paper contains a comparative analyses of the empirical data for the Bulgarian companies with analogical data based on the same research questions for the activeness in innovations of SMEs in Spain.
Background of the research. A plenty of economic studies have revealed the importance of academic research for innovation, technology and economic growth (Tushman, 1977;Tushman & Katz, 1980;Adams, 1990;Narin et al, 1997;Rosenberg & Nelson, 1994;Mansfield, 1995;Henderson et. al. 1l998;Branscomb et al., 1999;Griliches, 1998;Cohen et al, 2002). During the last 30-40 years, the management literature has documented the process of transfering of scientific knowledge into successful innovations and consequent economic growth mainly based on specific case studies and detailed surveys at company level (Tushman, 1977;Tushman & Katz, 1980;Bud, 1994;Hills, 1997).
On international scale, there is a plenty of research about various issues closely related to innovations, innovation activities, impact of different factors on the innovations' success etc. Researchers from different countries put the focus on innovations and SMEs as small companies present a significant part of the regional and national economies of many countries. Hoffman (1998) conducts a literature survey of UK work over the past decade and tries to characterize the state of knowledge about SMEs and innovation. It concludes with a discussion of gaps and weaknesses in the literature and some requirements for future research in this field. Massa and Testa (2008) investigate the innovativeness of a sample of Italian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) based on selfreported data by entrepreneurs or managers and show that the considered SMEs were important developers of radical innovations in contrast with data published by local institutions. The results show the existence of deeply different perspectives concerning innovation, starting from its definition to the effective policies for its promotions and the role of intermediary institutions.
Considering that innovation is a complex phenomenon, other studies examine how innovations are linked with organisations' performance and try to understand and explain the conditions that make innovation profitable (Otero-Neira, C. Martti Tapio  systematize prior work on technological innovation in family firms and the study shows that family involvement has direct effects on innovation inputs (e.g., R&D expenditures), activities (e.g., leadership in new product development projects), and outputs (e.g., number of new products), as well as moderating effects on the relationships between these steps of technological innovation. Some researchers explore empirically the relationships between different cooperation networks and innovation performance of SME using the technique of structural equation modeling (SEM). Based on a survey to 137 Chinese manufacturing SMEs, the study finds that there are significant positive relationships between inter-firm cooperation (Zenga, S.X, Xieb, X.M. & C.M. Tamc, 2010), cooperation with intermediary institutions, cooperation with research organizations and innovation performance of SMEs, of which inter-firm cooperation has the most significant positive impact on the innovation performance of SMEs. Surprisingly, the result reveals that the linkage and cooperation with government agencies do not demonstrate any significant impact on the innovation performance of SMEs (opp. cit., 2010).
In the last decade various research papers are dedicated to studying the possible barriers to innovations in the small and medium-sized companies in different countries (Pachouri, A. and Sharma, S., 2016; Sharma, N. 2017) and to investigating the innovative behavior of small companies through variables like size, age, R&D investments etc. Iceland researchers have also a significant contribution to the research on innovations in SMEs and especially the Centre for Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Reykjavik University. Their research interests focus on topics like "innovation mix in young technology based firms", "service innovativeness", "design as an element of innovation", "internal and external relationships in small firms business models" etc. According to Candi (2015) for small firms in particular, R&D relationships with external innovators, large public research labs and universities, as well as industrial and other supporting partners are at the heart of how knowledge intensive innovation is organized and managed today.
Despite the various research interest, the knowledge base about how SMEs actually undertake innovative activities and what type of innovations they implement remains limited.
Comparing to the big scope of academic research on international level, there is insufficient research on the topic of innovativeness in Bulgaria. According to the research of Slavova (2009), the main barrier for the innovations in the small companies is the lack of financial resources as this activity is a risky task but at the same time 26% o. f the companies have introduced improved product and services in 2009. Analysis on the entrepreneurship and intentions for innovations prepared by Association INSITE in 2012-2013 [33] in Bulgaria the SMEs in the production sector have higher innovation activeness than the companies in the services sector. The authors conclude based on the research data, that 1/3 of the companies in the processing industry have a very low innovation activeness. The importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in economic growth has made them a central element in much recent policymaking nowadays.
Research methodology. The data collection method is online survey in both counties and the link to the survey questionnaire in Bulgaria was sent to a list of 150 small and medium sized companies prepared by random choice from the sampling frame: the Directory of companiesmembers of Burgas Trade and Industrial Chamber which includes nearly 80% of the small and medium sized companies in the South-Easthern Bulgaria. The Spanish sample is based on a list of companies based in the eastern part of Spainpredominantly small and medium-sized which are collaborating in various activities with the University of Barcelona. The number of companies reacting to the survey is 32 which accounts to nearly 60% of the companies in the list.
The survey questionnaire contains a couple of sections relevant to the research objectives. The majority of the questions employ a 5-level Likert scale that is a type of rating scale used to measure attitudes or opinions. For the purposes of the survey, respondents are asked to rate items on their own level of agreement. With regard to the statistical methods, the paper employs quantitative statistical methods: frequencies, cross tabulation, means and correlation analysis.
Results and discussion. Company profile of the respondents -industry and size. According to the survey information the staff of 77.5% of the companies in the sample is under 9 people, 12.5% of the companies have from 10-50 employees (small companies) and only 7.5% are middle sized companies (with up to 250 employees). The biggest part of the firms are from the processing industry -60%, a little more than ¼ are from the services sectorprofessional services, hotel and restaurant enterprises and 12.5 % operate in the retailing sector.
The Spanish sample of SMEs differs in the structure from the Bulgarian one as it is seen from Table 2: the percentage of the micro SMEs (up to 10 people) is more than double smaller than the same group in the Bulgarian sample. At the same time the percentage of the small companies in the Spanish sample is 3 times bigger as well as the percentage of the middle-sized companies, which reflects the company, structure in the Bulgarian economy. As far as the job position concerns nearly 88.0% of the respondents from the Bulgarian sample are general managers or CEOs, per 5% are marketing managers and managers "business development" and 2.5% are managers "New product development". The comparison with the Spanish data about respondents' job position points out that half of the respondents (50.1%) are CEO or managers. Nearly ¼ of the respondents are marketing, R&D and sales managers (see Table 3) which is much bigger than the percentage in Bulgaria but this is understandable as the Spanish companies are bigger and have more department managers. The comparative analysis of the research data for both samples with regard to the question "what part of the sales revenues is provided by new products (goods and services)" for 2 years revealed that: 1. Nearly 1/3 of the Spanish companies (32%) generate 1-5% of sales revenue by new products and services launched on the market in 2015 and 2016. Only 13% of the Bulgarian companies belong to this group; 2. The Spanish companies with 5-10% of sales revenue from new products are nearly ¼ of the sample and the percentage of the Bulgarian SMEs in this group is 18% (see Table 4). There is a big difference in the percentages of the Bulgarian and Spanish SMEs with 10-25% of the sales revenue generated by innovations in products and services but it must be taken under consideration that more than the half of the Bulgarian companies do not have such kind of information (see Table 4).
Development and introduction of new products and services. One of the most important survey questions was about the kind of innovations introduced in the companies in both countries. The summarized survey data reveals that the majority of the companies in Bulgaria have introduced material product innovations -58% and 53% of the respondents have conducted innovations in services.

№ 12(40), Vol.2, December 2018
According to the survey data 2/3 of the Spanish enterprises pointed out that they have conducted innovations in material goods and 63% of the companies in services (see Table 5). Generally, the percentage of the Spanish companies which have introduced product innovations (in either goods or services) is bigger by 10% compared to the Bulgarian enterprises (see Table 5).

Тable 5. Distribution of companies in both countries by innovations in goods or services
Bulgaria Spain Percent Percent Innovations for new products 58 67 Innovations in services 53 63 The comparative data analysis of the innovation activeness in goods with regard to company size points out that the most active in innovations in Bulgaria are the small enterprises (80%) and the middlesized companies: all of them in the sample have conducted such marketing innovations (see Table 5). As far as the Spanish companies concerns, mostly active in product innovations are the middle-sized enterprises (50-249 employees) and the companies with staff 250-499 people. According to the survey data the innovation activeness in services in Bulgaria and Spain is very similar: the lowest innovation activeness is in the group of the middle-sized companies -33% in Spain and 29% in Bulgaria (see Table 6). As far as the innovation activity in production and services sectors in Bulgaria concerns, the survey data show that the higher activeness is equally represented in both SMEs groups: companies with service innovations and companies with product innovation.
The study explored the attitude towards innovations of the Bulgarian and Spanish SMEs by the answers of 16 statements related to different aspects of the innovative behavior of the companies (see Table 7). The study results give us the reason to make a conclusion that there are statistically significant differences for only 4 of all statements, namely: we offer totally new value to the customers: the Spanish companies are more inclined to provide new value to customers; we adapt business models which are successful in other industries: the Bulgarian SMEs are much more inclined to adapt business models which are successful in other industries; we develop radical improved product: the companies in Bulgaria are more inclined to this activity; -we develop and produce totally new products: the SMEs in Bulgaria are more inclined to this activity (see Table 7). Investments in R&D activities and revenues from new products and services. One of the basic survey issues is the question about the percentage of the sales revenue invested by the SMEs in R&D activities and the positive fact is that according to the survey results 82.5% of the enterprises in Bulgaria included in the sample have invested in innovation activities, 43% of the companies have invested from 5-10% of the sales revenue while 8% have invested 10-25% from the sales revenues (see Table 8). The situation with the investments is slightly different in the Spanish sample: the biggest percentage of companies (38%) are those investing 1-5% of sales revenue and 28% from the companies are investing 5-10%. According to the data much bigger part of the Bulgarian enterprises do not store and store information about this indicator-nearly ¼ of the sample (see Table 8). The analysis of the companies' expenditures for innovations depending on their number of employees (size) reveals that there is no relation between the company size and the percentage of sales revenue invested for innovation activeness.
Another important issue is what is the contribution of the launched new products and services to the sales revenue and due to this circumstance, there is a question about that in the survey instrument. As far as this question concerns there is relatively big difference in the situation on both № 12(40), Vol.2, December 2018 samples but it is not possible to draw correct conclusion as there is a big number of missing answers on this question from the Bulgarian SMEs (58% of the Bulgarian companies do not have such data).

Innovation in product design, promotions and distribution policy.
With regard to the type of marketing innovations, the survey data show that the companies undertake more and easier innovations in the promotion policy egg. in marketing communications: 65% of the SMEs made some innovations in their promotion policy and relatively high share of the company-respondents improved or totally changed their distribution channels and/ or the methods for sales of goods and services-38.0%. The innovative practices in marketing communications include implementing new promotional approaches, introducing new communication channels, improving by big extent the current communication means etc. The comparative analysis with the Spanish companies points out that concerning the innovations in "design and packaging of goods" and "usage of new methods for goods and services promotion" the behavior of the Bulgarian and Spanish companies is similar (see Table 8). As far as the innovations in "the distribution channels and methods of sales" and introducing of "new pricing approaches and strategies" concerns, the Spanish companies are much more active (see Table 9).

Main barriers to the innovation activeness in Bulgaria and Spain
Regarding the barriers and difficulties related to the innovation activeness in Bulgaria, the respondents are on the opinion that the biggest barrier for the companies is not the lack of financial resources and access to bank credits like 6-7 years ago and this information is in fact in contrast with the situation 5-6 years ago when the main barrier was the difficult access to financial resources (Slavova-Nocheva, M. 2009), but the lack of qualified human resources -80% of the SMEs have chosen this answer option while at the same time 91% of the managers think that the access to bank credits is not difficult. For the Spanish companies the most important barriers to the innovations are: the lack of own financial resources -53% and the lack of qualified human resources -22% (see Table 9).
As far as the macro-and microenvironmental impact on the innovation activeness of SMEs in Bulgaria and Spain concerns, the recent survey highlights the fact, that in both countries according to the managers and CEOs, the environment can be characterized by the following 3 features (according more than 60% of the respondents): rapid technological changes, intensive competition, high consumer preferences which are changing very quickly.  25 12 Unsufficient opportunities for serious promotion of the creative and initiative people 18 6 Conclusions. The study results and evidence give us the reason to draw the following conclusions: Generally, the innovations activeness of the SMEs in both countries is very similar.
The majority of the companies have introduced innovations in products -58% of the respondents in Bulgaria and 67% in Spain.
The most active in innovations in Bulgaria are the small enterprises and the middle-sized companies: all of them in the sample have conducted such marketing innovations and as far as the Spanish companies concerns, mostly active in product innovations are the middle-sized enterprises.
According to the survey results, the SMEs in Bulgaria focus more on innovations in the promotional policy egg. the marketing communications in contrast with the small and medium-sized companies in Spain where the stress in innovations is more on changes in distribution channels and the pricing strategies and especially in the services sector where design is based on customer experience. The comparative analysis with the Spanish companies points out that concerning the innovations in "design and packaging of goods" and "usage of new methods for goods and services promotion" the behavior of the Bulgarian and Spanish companies is similar.
The biggest barrier for the SMEs in Bulgaria is the deficit of qualified human resources and for the Spanish companies-the lack of own financial resources.
The environment in Bulgaria and Spain can be characterized by the following 3 features: rapid technological changes, intensive competition and high consumer preferences which are changing very quickly. The pointed similarities in some macro-environmental factors and some similarities in the level of innovations activeness in both countries explain to some extent the similar economic growth rate in 2017 in Bulgaria and Spain.
The companies in both countries including the SMEs must introduce advanced policies for stimulation of innovative thinking development which will lead to better economic results of the whole industry.