Abstract

ARZOLA, Minerva. HOW CAN INNOVATION BE MEASURED IN THE SERVICES SECTOR?: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE IN THE FINANCE SECTOR. CIUDAD GUAYANA, VENEZUELA. uct [online]. 2007, vol.11, n.45, pp.167-172. ISSN 1316-4821.

Evaluating the results of innovation management in enterprises represents a fundamental tool to measure their growth and competitive trend. In the services sector, research oriented to measure the innovation process is very scarce. The aim of the present work is to validate a methodology to measure the innovating activity in the services sector, MIS’7 (Methodology of Innovation in Services), applying it to the finance sector in Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela. This method consists in measuring seven dimensions in the management of a services enterprise: Leadership, Planning, Strategy, Competence of Human Resources, Processes, Organization, Customers Satisfaction and Social Liability. The sector was divided into national entities and regional entities; a questionnaire was applied to gather information, the samples were over 30 people in every bank under evaluation, chosen from different levels of organization. Results indicate that national banks which were evaluated have a consent of 83%, being the dimensions: Customers Satisfaction, Organization, Processes and Social Liability, the most outstanding aspects of services enterprises. The regional banks which were studied had a level of consent of 62.7% within the criteria of MIS’7. The dimensions with best performance in this case were Customers Satisfaction, Social Liability and Leadership. As a conclusion, the study showed that Customers Satisfaction is the dimension with the highest degree of development and interest for enterprises of the finance sector that underwent evaluation.

Keywords : Services; Innovation; Measurement; MIS’7; Dynamics of change; Finance sector.