To read this content please select one of the options below:

Learning and innovation in small and medium enterprises

Yu‐Lin Wang (Department of Business Administration, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan)
Yau‐De Wang (Department of Management Science, National Chiao Tung University, HsinChu, Taiwan)
Ruey‐Yun Horng (Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Chiao Tung University, HsinChu, Taiwan)

Industrial Management & Data Systems

ISSN: 0263-5577

Article publication date: 16 March 2010

4366

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between knowledge acquisition, knowledge absorptive capacity, and innovation performance in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaire data were collected from research and development (R&D) managers or owners of 49 SMEs of the bicycle industry in Taiwan. The questionnaire was designed to measure variables including: knowledge absorptive capacity, knowledge acquisition of company, technical and industrial experiences of owner's and the R&D staff, innovation performance measures, and control variables.

Findings

The results show that the depth and the breadth of its owner's technical and industrial experiences best explained absorptive capacity of an SME. In turn, the absorptive capacity and the knowledge acquisition activities of an SME affect its innovation performance.

Research limitations/implications

The findings show that, first, SME owners' technical and industrial experiences are contributing factors to their companies' knowledge absorptive capacity; second, instead of R&D investment, SME personnel's scientific knowledge collection and diversity of knowledge sources contribute to innovation performance of companies. Because the data were limited to bicycle industry, future studies need to validate these findings in the SMEs of other industries.

Originality/value

The value of the paper lies in the fact that SME owner's and its personnel's contributions to company's knowledge absorptive capacity and the concomitant effects of knowledge acquisition and knowledge absorption capacity on a firm's innovation performance are two issues seldom addressed in previous studies.

Keywords

Citation

Wang, Y., Wang, Y. and Horng, R. (2010), "Learning and innovation in small and medium enterprises", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 110 No. 2, pp. 175-192. https://doi.org/10.1108/02635571011020296

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Related articles