Barriers to innovation faced by manufacturing firms in Portugal: how to overcome it for fostering business excellence?

This paper aims to identify the barriers to innovation that influence the innovation capability of Portuguese manufacturing firms. The literature review about innovation makes use of two reference approaches: (1)the systemic and (2) the networks and interorganisational relationships. The database is obtained through the Community Innovation Survey II (CIS II) conducted by the Statistical Office of the European Communities (EUROSTAT). Furthermore, from the results, several public policies are proposed in order to overcome the restraining factors of the entrepreneurial innovative capability and to promote business excellence at the firm level, especially alternative financing sources, incentives for innovation activities and open innovation networks.