Abstract
![CDATA[Innovation, customer relationship management, entering new international markets, and competitive actions within current marketplaces are among the strategies that firms undertake to pursue competitive advantage. Often the studies that examine these strategies either (a) focus on one strategy only, or (b) study the interaction of two or more strategies. Our previous studies explored the interaction between two strategies - innovation and market orientation - and identified key components of the market orientation construct as antecedent factors of the innovation performance of firms. This paper builds on our previous investigations (Low et. al., 2005) in which we found a link between Innovation and Market Orientation; and produced a model of this relationship. It reports on the findings of further qualitative research investigations of this linkage, expanding our understanding of the relationship between these two constructs. The paper discusses these results in light of the previous quantitative findings to provide further insights into this relationship. The qualitative findings are based on an empirical study of 73 Australian manufacturing SMEs. This report identifies and models factors external and internal to the firm that impact upon firm innovativeness. By using the company as the unit of analysis, as opposed to whole industry sectors as used in previous studies, we have been able to identify components of the market orientation construct that influence the relationship between market orientation and innovation. From interviews with key company informants we have identified the key antecedent factors for market orientation, the relationships between these factors and innovation performance, and examined interactions between this data and the previously reported quantitative results. Having established the antecedent factors to innovation performance, we discuss the implications of these findings in terms of the current literature concerning sustainable competitive advantage and the relevance of the findings to managers and employees within SMEs. We conclude by detailing a future research agenda and stressing the importance of further international research to better understand the impact of the antecedent factors identified.]]
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 8th International CINet Conference: Continuous Innovation - Opportunities and Challenges, Gothenburg, Sweden, 7-11 September 2007 |
Publisher | CINet |
Number of pages | 13 |
ISBN (Print) | 9789077360095 |
Publication status | Published - 2007 |
Event | Continuous Innovation Network. International Conference - Duration: 1 Jan 2007 → … |
Conference
Conference | Continuous Innovation Network. International Conference |
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Period | 1/01/07 → … |
Keywords
- new products
- small business
- competition
- corporate culture
- retail trade