Resource-based view of innovation activity in SMEs: an empirical analysis based on the global competitiveness project
ISSN: 1059-5422
Article publication date: 24 July 2020
Issue publication date: 21 May 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the corporate functions that contribute most to the innovation success of SMEs with limited resources. After a systematic literature review, the authors used a unique primary data set of 784 SMEs from eight countries. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to show the data set peculiarities. The logistic regression targeted the presence of innovative products and services in sales by 11 dummy variables and 4 principal factors describing SMEs’ different resources and capabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed a resource-based product innovation model that is synthesising the impact of the company resources and capabilities and of the innovation activity of the company on the actual innovation performance. The authors carry out an empirical analysis of the characteristic features of innovation activity in an international sample of SMEs.
Findings
The results show that two corporate functions play a crucial role in the effectiveness of innovation for SMEs as follows: management and research and development (R&D). In addition, although of lesser importance, the effect of the marketing function also appears significant. The binary logistic regression had 84.2% of explanatory power.
Originality/value
From a scientific point of view, the SME-focussed, complex and synthesising RBV model of innovation construction and literature review can be used as a reference point for future researches. From a practical point of view, the analysis is useful for those SMEs, which want to gain a competitive advantage through innovation. Indeed, the results show that in the case of SMEs, a company wishing to innovate must invest in three corporate functions for innovation to be effective as follows: management, R&D and marketing.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The research was financed by the Higher Education Institutional Excellence Programme of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology in Hungary, within the framework of the 4th thematic programme “Enhancing the Role of Domestic Companies in the Reindustrialization of Hungary” of the University of Pécs”.
This publication/research has been supported by the European Union and Hungary and co-financed by the European Social Fund through the project EFOP-3.6.2–16-2017–00017, titled “Sustainable, intelligent and inclusive regional and city models”.
Citation
Lukovszki, L., Rideg, A. and Sipos, N. (2021), "Resource-based view of innovation activity in SMEs: an empirical analysis based on the global competitiveness project", Competitiveness Review, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 513-541. https://doi.org/10.1108/CR-01-2020-0018
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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