Abstract
The study investigated the effect of competitor orientation on innovation among SMEs in Yobe State, Nigeria. The study adopted cross-sectional survey design. The target population was 363 participants who were either SMEs owners or managers. The sample size was 190 respondents. The main research instrument was questionnaire. Data was analyzed using linear regression analysis.The study found that competitor orientation significantly explains 11.7% of the total variance in innovation (Adjusted R 2 =0.256, p=0.000). The study concluded that competitor orientation affects SMEs’ innovation. The study made the following recommendations: the need for SMEs managers and owners to employ better competitive methods that give them upper hand above their competitors, and the need for SMEs to maintain a constant relationship with their customers through business discussion forums, phone calls, email alerts of new products or services, after-service technical support, and timely discount offers for key and specific customers who buy in bulk, and maintaining an active presence on social media. Keywords: competitor orientation, innovation, SMEs, Yobe State, Nigeria. DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/12-3-10 Publication date: January 31 st 2020
Highlights
The rising globalization, rapid technological development due to stronger competitive pressure, rapid changes in the market and more demanding customers,has made it much more difficult for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to gain competitive advantage (Recia, 2016)
A few years ago SMEs represented about 90 percent of the industrial sector in terms of the number of enterprises (Ogechukw et al, 2013). This sector economically, holds the key to sustainable development of the country and its importance can be put in proper aspect in relation to the structure of the Nigerian economy with many performance contributions as the source of technology innovation and new products (Ogechukw et al, 2013)
The results of the internal consistency of this study reveals that the instrument was reliable with competitor orientation having (α=0.825), and SMEs’ innovation (α=0.816)
Summary
The rising globalization, rapid technological development due to stronger competitive pressure, rapid changes in the market and more demanding customers,has made it much more difficult for SMEs to gain competitive advantage (Recia, 2016). A few years ago SMEs represented about 90 percent of the industrial sector in terms of the number of enterprises (Ogechukw et al, 2013) This sector economically, holds the key to sustainable development of the country and its importance can be put in proper aspect in relation to the structure of the Nigerian economy with many performance contributions as the source of technology innovation and new products (Ogechukw et al, 2013). The Nigerian government has over the years introduced different development support policy programs since the early 1970s to help improve the performance of small and medium enterprises through financing and to help diversify the country dominance of an over-reliance on the oil sector economy To this goal, the Federal government policy interventions for the financing of SMEs are generally geared towards improving the expected contribution of the sector to the outgrowth and evolution of the home economic system (Jibrin et al, 2015)
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