Firm’s strategy to innovate in a European transition economy

Abstract Innovation and knowledge through specialization produce competitive advantage and specific capabilities that help firms to rapidly respond to market changes and allow for expansion during windows of opportunity. However, in transition economies, such as Albania, this mechanism is not so evident due to the low level of innovative firms. In transition economies, trademarks can act as an indicator of intellectual property, which could be a critical success factor for sustaining (low) innovation and entrepreneurial expansion, because they could provide a way to capitalize on innovation and transfer specific know-how abroad. The aim of this paper is to investigate Albanian registered trademarks to understand the characteristics of a successful trademark in a transition economy. This work could also enrich the empirical literature on innovation in transition economies because it highlights the diversification and localization of (Albanian) trademarks, thus identifying the innovative firms.