Conclusions
Considering the objective of this study, i.e., to present the most relevant cognitive factors influencing the innovation activities of entrepreneurs of small businesses participating in the Local Innovation Agents (LIA) program in Rondônia (Amazon state, Brazil), the results indicated the existence of 14 relevant factors pointed out by the studied companies. There were two influence factors mentioned by all participants in some casual relationship, therefore, a consensus: “need for survival” and “knowledge and experience”. These factors indicate, respectively, motivation and innovation process management of the companies studied. Thus, answering the question formulated in the title of this study, the consensual factor “need forsurvival” allows assuming that small businesses seek to innovate by meeting and overcoming legal obligations established forthe marketsthey operate and as a way to monitor or level with competitors of a same business field to avoid being “at the edge of the market”. There is, therefore, an attitude little or non-proactive in relation to innovation. This helps us to understand the apparent inertia of this segment in face of government incentives, which was considered as a motivation in this study
