The Impact of Environmental Turbulence on Product Innovation in Small to Medium Enterprises in Harare, Zimbabwe

Caroline Zimuto,Tinashe Chuchu,Tinashe Ndoro,Maxwell Sandada

doi:10.22610/jebs.v10i6a.2661

Caroline Zimuto, Tinashe Chuchu + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.22610/jebs.v10i6a.2661

Copy DOI

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to examine the impact of environmental turbulence on product innovations in small to medium enterprises (SMEs). In the study environmental turbulence consisted of five dimensions namely, supplier turbulence, technological turbulence, market turbulence, regulatory turbulence and competitive intensity. A cross-sectional quantitative research design was adopted in the study. The study sample was drawn from a pool of 3,000 SMEs both unregistered and registered with the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises in Harare, Zimbabwe. In the study, a total of 200 completed surveys were obtained and analysed. To analyse the research data SPSS23 was utilised. Regression analysis was carried out to establish the cause-and-effect relationship between the independent and dependent variables in the study. The findings of the study showed that technology turbulence and competitive intensity had a statistically significant positive impact on product innovation. Market turbulence was noted as having a statistically significant negative impact on product innovativeness. The main implications established in the study were that SMEs should introduce mechanisms to manage and mitigate market, supplier and regulatory turbulence to ensure that their levels of product innovativeness remain positive.

Highlights

The business environment that firms operate in now is characterized by dynamism, hyper-competition and high uncertainty; for SMEs to remain competitive and be successful they need to be innovative and always adaptive to the market changes
Purpose of the Study: The purpose of the current study is to investigate the impact of the dimensions of environmental turbulence on product innovativeness by SMEs operating in Zimbabwe
In this study the results indicate that SMEs experience higher levels of innovation during conditions of technological turbulence and lower levels of innovation in conditions of market uncertainty. These results indicate that Zimbabwean and Turkish markets are different SMEs in different countries behave differently when faced with environmental turbulence

Summary

Introduction

The business environment that firms operate in now is characterized by dynamism, hyper-competition and high uncertainty; for SMEs to remain competitive and be successful they need to be innovative and always adaptive to the market changes. For SMEs to encourage internal innovation in their organizations they need to promote the mindset of looking outside the box in order for opportunities to collaborate. This can be done through knowledge sharing, brainstorming ideas and expanding firm networks which can improve their growth prospects. This mindset is vital for Zimbabwe’s large volume of SMEs which are continuously struggling to survive and grow. These SMEs need to grasp the implications of innovation as a real driver of success and competitiveness. Almost all SMEs in Zimbabwe are struggling due to the everchanging business environment and little research has been done in Zimbabwe on how this environmental turbulence affects SME innovation focusing mainly on product innovation

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion