The linkage between tradition and innovation involves specificities and different degrees of complexity, depending on the entrepreneurial activity and economic sector. The paper adopts an institutionalist approach to study the relation between tradition and innovation through the discussion of a specific case: the introduction of innovations in cork production and transformation in a Portuguese territory: Coruche. We are dealing with an apparent paradox: institutions involve tradition and stability but they also favour change and innovation. It is precisely their stable and routinized nature that creates the conditions to change and innovation. Past experiences create knowledge, competencies and routines, which are context specific and can be used when individuals or organizations face particular problems or have to make choices. The linkage between past and present, routine and change is related to the simultaneously constraint and enabling nature of institutions. However, the interplay and dynamics between what seems to be opposite aspects of institutions (stability and change; restriction and enabling) should be assessed in particular contexts, considering that the development of entrepreneurial activity occurs in and is shaped by different and specific institutional frameworks. The results of this research remit to specific dynamics and tensions between tradition and innovation in cork industry. They give relevant insights to the study of the articulation of tradition and innovation in entrepreneurship processes. These outcomes also present important challenges to the maintenance and competitiveness of a central and traditional sector in the Portuguese economy, which has gone through a process of revival through innovation and entrepreneurship.

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innovation, tradition, cork, institutions

• Engenharia Eletrotécnica, Eletrónica e Informática - Engenharia e Tecnologia
• Engenharia Mecânica - Engenharia e Tecnologia