The Drivers of Product Innovation in Africa

Firm competitiveness and profitability can be derived from the ability of the firm to innovate essential and user-friendly products. In the face of globalisation and fierce competition, product innovation remains one of the major sources of productivity, corporate renewal, survival and strategic foresight for firms operating in emerging markets. Firms in emerging markets need to develop various capabilities such as skilled human capital, creativity, networking and competitiveness in order to engage effectively in product innovation. Through the creativity debate and using the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) 2017 for 35 African countries, this study investigates the strategic role of human capital, networking and competition as the main drivers of product innovation among firms in Africa. The evidence shows that while human capital and firm competitiveness contribute to product innovation among firms in Africa, networking does not seem to contribute to the same. Theoretically, this study contributes to the creativity debate and the role of the individual talent in driving such a process in a firm’s environment. Practically, firms need to continue to focus on human resource capacity development and staff training which is critical for product innovation.