THE INFLUENCE OF INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGICAL AND RESEARCH PROCESSES ON WOOD INDUSTRY

Slovenia is entering global markets and approaching EU and the comparability with related industrial branches in Europe is thus becoming one of the key indicators of the state of business processes. Statistical indictors serve as an excellent support is this research. These, together with the knowledge on background, which influences statistical data, give an opportunity for an in-depth and systematic analysis of the situation, causes and trends. In this paper, we described Slovenian wood processing industry, especially in the field of innovation and technological processes. The research was run in five steps. Firstly, we selected a group of variables from statistical data on the basis of standardised method which has been applied by the Slovenian Statistical Office. The group thus selected was then integrated in our analysis. In our second step, some additional variables were defined beside aforementioned ones. In the third step, the variables were dispersed among the following categories: input, process, output indirect and output direct variables. In the fourth step we calculated mutual correlations among particular variables (Spearman's correlation coefficient). In our last step, we defined mutual correlations among particular variables and focused on the most important ones when interpreting them.On the basis of illustrated methodology, we determined the influential input and process variables, which clearly indicate not only the sequence of activities but also particular areas of innovation activities where additional efforts need to be invested.