Barriers to Innovation Diffusion in Rural Enterprises: the Strategy of " Doing Nothing "

Causes, types and sizes of the obstacles impeding the diffusion of innovation within and among rural enterprises can be of very different nature and they can be translated into more or less severe difficulties in developing and implementing innovative processes in a rural area as a whole. Resistances to innovation, their characteristics and effects have been deeply studied in literature but empirical observations may highlight how also inertia (reiterated inaction) can play a critical role in hampering innovation diffusion and processes of change. Some crucial operational questions are thus related to the possibility to the achievement of a correct diagnosis and, possibly, a solution of this phenomenon linked to the identification of the actual and potential sources of inertia at farm/firm level, the quantification of its main consequences and the understanding of the reasons why inertia may become a preferable option compared to action.