Returnee CEO and innovation in Chinese high-tech SMEs

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the extant literature on open innovation (OI) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approach– An examination of the literature was undertaken to review the studies on open innovation in SMEs. The selected articles were classified in different themes and analyzed accordingly.Findings– The study finds that adopting OI by SMEs improves their overall innovation performance. The authors found that a larger number of studies are based on a quantitative approach. Surprisingly, unlike in many other disciplines, scholars of North America have had a limited contribution. European scholars, along with some scholars from Korea and China, have been active in developing this field of OI in SMEs.Research limitations/implications– This study provides theoretical and managerial implications. With thematic analysis, along with identifying gaps, conflations, and contradictions in the literature, this study proposes an agenda for future exploration.Originality/value– The value of this study lies in the integration of the limited but scattered studies on OI in SMEs.

PurposeThis study examines how technology-intensive small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engage in open innovation. The purpose of this paper is to add to the literature on open innovation in SMEs, which has received considerably less attention than open innovation in large companies. Also, the study adds on the literature on open innovation in the commercialization phase.Design/methodology/approachA multiple case study of 13 technology-intensive SMEs in forestry sector was conducted. The forestry sector in Finland was chosen as a target context, there were many innovative pioneering SMEs operating in the industry and because the sector was going through significant changes.FindingsThree multi-firm collaboration modes in the commercialization phase were identified: networks with a lead partner, equal partnership, and partnership for external technology commercialization. The study shows that in SMEs, open innovation is used for commercialization rather than research and development. The main conclusion of the study is that the mode of collaboration in commercialization is determined by the core competence of the firm and the strategy for open innovation.Practical implicationsThe study results imply that SMEs benefit from opening up their innovation process in the commercialization phase. The firms in this study employed a blend of strategies that capitalized on their internal strengths. They collaborated actively with external firms and outsourced from specialists. This way they were able to compensate for their internal weaknesses and gain competitive advantage.Originality/valueThe study extends our understanding of open innovation by providing a detailed analysis of how open innovation takes place in the commercialization phase of innovation process. Also, the study extends understanding of the strategic use of open innovation in SMEs by showing how SMEs balance the risk of losing their competitive advantage built on innovation and the benefit of creating a broader competence base with partnerships.

The capacity to innovate has grown to be a major obstacle in the corporate environment in the digital age. For technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), open innovation provides a strategic and cultural means to improve their innovation capacity by using internal and external ideas, resources, and technical knowledge-how. Although earlier studies have examined how open innovation affects big businesses, there is a great knowledge vacuum on how open innovation and strategic orientation affect innovation performance in SMEs, especially in underdeveloped countries. This research fills this need by investigating in Costa Rican technology-based SMEs the link between open innovation, strategic orientation, and inventive performance using a quantitative, cross-sectional methodology. The research supports the suggested hypotheses using Cronbach’s alpha and statistical models, showing that strategic orientation and open innovation favorably affect inventive performance. The results add to the state of the art by giving empirical data from a developing economy setting and pragmatic advice for SMEs trying to improve their capacity for innovation in a fast-changing digital environment. Received: 14 January 2025 | Revised: 15 April 2025 | Accepted: 4 July 2025 Conflicts of Interest The author declares that he has no conflict of interest in this work. Data Availability Statement Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study. Author Contribution Statement Gabriel Silva-Atencio: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.

External collaboration is important for firms' innovation performance, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between two types of external collaboration (firm-firm collaboration and firm-university & research institute collaboration) and innovation performance of SMEs in the Chinese context and how these relationships can be moderated by an important external environment factor-government institutional support. Survey data from 214 manufacturing SMEs in China were used to test the proposed model through hierarchical regression analysis. The results showed that both firm-firm collaboration and firm-university & research institute collaboration are positively related to innovation performance of SMEs, and firm-university & research institute collaboration offers greater benefits than firm-firm collaboration. Furthermore, this study found that government institutional support positively moderates the relationships between two types of external collaboration (firm-firm collaboration and firm-university & research institute collaboration) and innovation performance of SMEs.

Innovation has been one of the key drivers of sustainable competitive advantage for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). On the basis of a survey sample of 188 Chinese manufacturing SMEs, this paper explores barriers, cooperation networks and policy requirements in innovation for SMEs. This paper reveals that the ‘lack of technical experts’ is the most important barrier; the ‘customer’, the most important cooperation partner; and the ‘preferential tax policy’, the most favorable policy in innovation for SMEs. These findings reveal that many Chinese SMEs have difficulties in achieving successful innovation. Therefore, policies should be made based on internal and external constraints to facilitate innovation of SMEs, and varied depending on the size as well as the mode of ownership of firms.

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial part in a country’s economic growth and sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between innovation and the performance of SMEs. An external environmental factor acts as a moderating variable between the exogenous and endogenous variables. Data were collected from 350 textile SMEs operating in Pakistan using a cross-sectional study design through self-administered questionnaires. Of these, only 335 surveys were valid for further analysis. The structural equational modeling technique was used for analyzing the data and testing the hypotheses that innovation and the external environment affect an SME’s performance. The results indicate a significant association between innovation and SME performance, and the external environment has a moderating impact on innovation and SME performance. This paper offers valuable recommendations to senior managers and owners of SMEs to consider the innovation and external environment as crucial factors when assessing their SME’s performance. This study contributes towards the body of knowledge on this subject and can help practitioners and researchers explore the effects of innovation and the external environment on the performance of SMEs.

In this study, we explore the relationship between digitalization and innovation performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We assume that SMEs with a higher degree of digital diffusion should have a higher innovation performance, and absorptive capacity should moderate this relationship. To test our assumptions, we first draw a sample of 1,100 German SMEs from the Centre for European Economic Research’s Mannheim Innovation Panel of Germany. We then use ordered and multivariate probit estimation techniques to test our key hypotheses. The results of our study show that digital diffusion indeed is a significant source of innovation in SMEs. In addition, we find that absorptive capacity moderates the relationship between digital diffusion and innovation only in the case of product innovation outcomes. The implications for research and practice are discussed.

In the knowledge era, intellectual capital (IC) has been recognized as the determinant of firm performance. The main goal of the current study is to analyze the relationship between IC and its elements and financial performance of Chinese manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We also examine whether industry type has an impact on this relationship. This study uses the data of 588 Chinese listed SMEs in the manufacturing industry between 2015 and 2020 and employs the modified value-added intellectual coefficient (MVAIC) model to assess IC. The results show that IC improves SMEs’ financial performance, and physical and human capitals are the main contributor. In addition, the impact of IC and its elements on the financial performance of Chinese manufacturing SMEs is different in different types of industries. Specifically, capital-intensive SMEs have a greater impact of IC on financial performance than labor- and technology-intensive SMEs; labor-intensive SMEs have a higher efficiency of physical capital, while technology-intensive SMEs have higher human capital efficiency. The findings could help SMEs’ managers improve corporate performance by the effective utilization of their IC.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly rely on digital technologies to sustain innovation, yet limited empirical evidence explains how business intelligence capabilities translate into superior innovation outcomes, particularly in emerging economy contexts. Addressing this gap, this study examines the direct and indirect effects of business intelligence capabilities on innovation performance by unpacking the mediating role of knowledge management capability and the moderating role of data-driven decision making within an integrated Resource-Based View and Knowledge-Based View framework. Conceptually, the study advances prior research by clarifying the complementary roles of these theoretical perspectives: the Resource-Based View explains what strategic digital resources firms possess, the Knowledge-Based View explains how these resources are transformed into organizational knowledge through knowledge management capability, and data-driven decision making explains when these capabilities are effectively converted into innovation outcomes. Data were collected through a survey of 316 owners and senior managers of small- and medium-sized hotels operating in Amman, Jordan, and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) as the primary analytical technique. The results indicate that business intelligence capabilities exert a significant positive effect on innovation performance, with this relationship largely transmitted through knowledge management capability, demonstrating that the value of business intelligence lies in its integration into organizational knowledge processes rather than in data availability alone. Moreover, data-driven decision making strengthens the relationship between business intelligence capabilities and innovation performance, functioning as an execution-level capability that enhances the conversion of digital and knowledge-based resources into innovation outcomes. To further validate the robustness of the findings, a post-hoc moderated mediation analysis using Hayes’ PROCESS macro version 4.2 was conducted as a confirmatory analysis. By conceptualizing business intelligence, knowledge management, and data-driven decision making as an interconnected socio-technical capability system, this study advances digital innovation theory and offers actionable insights for SME managers seeking to orchestrate capabilities for innovation under resource constraints.

This paper investigates the combined role of innovation support policies and firm's own innovative activities on the performance of Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in high-tech sectors. By distinguishing two components of innovative activities—research and development (R&D) investments and embedded innovative capacity—the paper develops and tests an integrative moderated moderation model. The results suggest that in Chinese high-tech SMEs innovation-support policies positively moderate the relationship between R&D investments and performance, but this positive effect diminishes when there are higher levels of embedded innovative capacity. These results highlight that the relationship between government innovation policies and a firm's own R&D investments is not only reciprocal but also more complex than the one so far analyzed in the literature. The results show in particular that the effects of innovation-support policies on R&D investments is not as neat as it seems, because of the internal balance within the firm between investment in R&D and other sources of innovation. Therefore, although innovation support policies have been found to help Chinese SMEs in high-tech sectors benefit from their R&D investments, these policies are particularly effective only when R&D investments are significantly driving firms’ innovative activities. This highlights the relevance of both government support and a firm's own efforts in the competitive modernization of Chinese SMEs.

This paper presents the results of a study on the relationship of innovation capabilities and performance of SMEs related to innovation activity (innovation performance) by taking into account the characteristics of the company in footwear Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Mojokerto. Innovation capabilities of SMEs was measured using the concept of Technological Innovation Capabiliities (TIC) with 7 (seven) dimensions of capability, ie learning capability, R&D capability, manufacturing capability, marketing capability, resources allocatioin capability, organizational capability, and strategic planning capabilities; while the innovation performance of SMEs related activity was measured using the concept of Technological innovation performnace (TIP) with 4 (four) dimensions of performance, namely sales performance, innovation performance, product performance, and sales growth performance. Characteristics of SMEs were described through 4 main variables, namely the scale of the business, the company age, the type of product, and the location of the business location.This study was conducted on 82 Footwear SMEs in Mojokerto, which is in Sooko (village of Wringin Rejo, Japan, Karang Kedawang, Jampirogo and Sambiroto), Trowulan District (Pakis village), Pungging District (Tunggal Pager village) and Puri District. The process of data collection was done by interviews and questionnaires to the owners and managers of SMEs. The sampling method used was non-probability purposive sampling and the population used was footwear SMEs in Mojokerto. The data analysis technique used was structural equation modeling (SEM) based on the Component or Variance - PLS program operated through SmartPLS version 2.0.The results of study showed that, manufacturing capability was predicted to affect product performance and organizational capability was estimated to give an impact on the innovation capability, sales growth and sales performance. Some dimensions of innovation capabilities that have absolutely no influence on the performance of SMEs were learning capability, R&D capability, resources allocation capability, marketing capability, and strategic capability. Results of Manova analysis stated that the characteristics of SMEs (the location of SMEs) gave effect to both the innovation capabilities and the innovation performance of SMEs. Keywords: kapabilitas inovasi, kinerja inovasi, UKM alas kaki, Mojokerto

Innovation continues to be a strategic priority of corporate competitiveness. Despite there is a sizable body of research that addresses how innovations influence various business outcomes, little is known as to whether and how process and product innovation may fuel/hinder the supply chain strategic fit (SCSF) and the business performance of focal small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Employing structural equation modelling on data collected from 258 Korean SMEs, we find that both process and product innovations positively impact SCSF, and that improved SCSF positively influences on SME performance. Our study also suggests a non-monotonic contingency effect of environmental uncertainty on the relationship between SME innovation and SCSF. Specifically, we find that environmental uncertainty strengthens the positive effect of process innovation on SCSF but weakens the positive impact of product innovation on SCSF. Our study contributes to the innovation and supply chain management literature with novel theoretical and managerial knowledge on how to manage innovation and SCSF under different environmental conditions.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly innovative SMEs, face significant challenges in accessing credit. This paper examines how performance-pay for executives affects borrowing discouragement in innovative vs non-innovative SMEs. While literature establishes a significant relation between performance-pay and leverage, no prior manuscript investigates its impact on borrowing discouragement as a form of credit-rationing. This study analyzes 17,404 SMEs from 47 countries using World Bank Enterprise Surveys data, focusing on performance-pay, innovation, and borrowing discouragement. Results show that performance-pay does not impact fear of rejection regardless of firm innovativeness. However, it reduces discouragement from loan terms due to better creditor alignment. In contrast, innovative SMEs—especially those pursuing radical innovation—face the opposite effect: performance-pay reduces fear of rejection but heightens discouragement from stricter loan conditions imposed by wary lenders. This highlights a trade-off where innovation incentives may improve long-term growth but worsen access to credit.

The study examined the impact of entrepreneurial characteristics on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with particular emphasis on the mediating role of innovation in a developing economy. Using structural equation modeling, they analyzed data from 241 Vietnamese SME entrepreneurs to assess direct and indirect relationships among entrepreneurial traits, innovation, and firm performance. The findings indicated that gender, human capital, and emotional characteristics positively influenced SME innovation, which fully mediated the effects of gender and human capital and partially mediated the effect of emotional traits on performance. Entrepreneur age had no significant effect on innovation and was negatively associated with firm performance. Moreover, SME innovation had a direct and significant positive effect on performance. These results support upper echelons theory and Schumpeterian innovation theory and offer policy implications for innovation-oriented SME support in developing economies.

Resource constraints are widely regarded as a major barrier for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to achieve ambidexterity. While operating in a cluster may help SMEs alleviate resource constraints, it also creates the risk of over embeddedness within the cluster whereby firms focus excessively on exploitation that hampers their ability to achieve ambidexterity. We propose that cluster SMEs with risk-taking orientation and that pursue knowledge search beyond cluster boundaries can overcome over embeddedness within their clusters and achieve ambidexterity. We further suggest that ambidexterity can be a critical competence for SMEs to realise superior innovation performance. Analysis of data gathered through face-to-face interviews and questionnaires from 109 owner-managers of SMEs in a footwear manufacturing cluster in Indonesia support these predictions. Extra-cluster ties and risk taking are critical antecedents of ambidexterity in cluster SMEs. Further, ambidexterity mediates the effects of risk taking fully, and extra-cluster ties partially, on SMEs’ innovation performance.