innovation and employment growth in costa rica: a firm-level analysis

company to not only extend the market for their products, but also to use less tuna in each can sold. While the company originally used manual labor to mix tuna and vegetables, it was found that this resulted in unacceptable variations in the proportions of ingredients in each can, and the process was automated, with a consequent loss of approximately 120 positions in the packing process. The employees whose activities were automated were moved to different positions within the company.

Other innovations have clearly created new jobs. The results of a recent study by researchers from the University of Costa Rica showed that the sludge remaining in the approximately 100 tons of waste water produced daily in the cleaning of fish was suitable for conversion into a high-grade fertilizer, and other researchers are currently completing a specification of the optimal mix of ingredients. As a result of these efforts, a new division of the company dedicated to fertilizer production will be created and new employees will be hired to work there. The company plans to patent the methods used to process the sludge, and will also need to develop a new brand and marketing strategies to commercialize the final product.

In another case of job creation through innovation, Sardimar’s decision to participate in the development of gourmet products led to a contract with an Italian company to produce special slices of the belly meat of yellow fin tuna, which are packed in olive oil sent from Italy, together with other ingredients such as jalapeùo peppers. Marketed as Tonnino Tuna Filets, the products have been a great commercial success, leading to an expansion of production and a need for more workers to carry out specialized selection and processing of yellow fin tuna.

Some types of innovation carried out by Sardimar are more the result of necessity than of choice. The company is facing the prospect of declining catches of tuna from the Pacific coastal waters of Costa Rica as a result of heavy global exploitation of migratory fish, for instance, and is increasingly purchasing containers of frozen fish from suppliers in the Western Pacific, whose quality is somewhat lower than that of the fish taken in Costa Rican waters. As a result, Sardimar is finding it necessary to develop new brands and marketing strategies for separate products made with this lower-quality tuna to avoid customer perceptions that the quality of existing brands and products is declining.

Hewlett Packard (primary innovations: new services, products) Hewlett Packard (HP) is one of the largest ICT companies in the world, with more than 300,000 employees in 170 countries around the world and global 2010 revenues of almost US$115 61