Purpose

This article attempts to explain performance through the development of innovations within small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, the authors analyse the determinants of innovation and assess the role of technological and non-technological innovations in performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a sample of 508 Cameroonian SMEs, the PSM (propensity score matching) technique was used to reduce the selection bias inherent in this type of analysis.

Findings

The results show that technological innovation does not influence significantly the performance of SMEs, whereas non-technological innovation positively influences it. The combination of these two types of innovation leads to better performance than even accentuated development of only one type.

Practical implications

To improve the performance of SMEs, it is necessary to adopt a comprehensive innovation policy that combines non-technological and technological innovations. In addition, it is important to intensify informations and communication technologies (ICT) promotion policies that contribute to the adoption of innovations within enterprises.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature by showing the role of technological and non-technological innovations in explaining the performance of SMEs. Moreover, unlike the existing work in sub-Saharan Africa, which is limited to testing the innovation–performance relationship, this study also determines the productivity gain generated by innovative firms compared to non-innovative ones.

中文翻译：

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喀麦隆创新与中小企业表现

目的

本文试图通过中小型企业 (SME) 的创新发展来解释绩效。具体而言，作者分析了创新的决定因素并评估了技术和非技术创新在绩效中的作用。

设计/方法/方法

基于 508 家喀麦隆中小企业的样本，使用 PSM（倾向得分匹配）技术来减少此类分析中固有的选择偏差。

发现

结果表明，技术创新对中小企业绩效的影响不显着，而非技术创新对其产生积极影响。这两种类型的创新相结合，甚至比只进行一种类型的重点开发更能带来更好的性能。

实际影响

要提高中小企业的绩效，就要采取非技术创新与技术创新相结合的综合创新政策。此外，加强有助于在企业内部采用创新的信息和通信技术 (ICT) 促进政策也很重要。

原创性/价值

本文通过展示技术和非技术创新在解释中小企业绩效方面的作用对文献做出了贡献。此外，与撒哈拉以南非洲现有的仅限于测试创新绩效关系的工作不同，本研究还确定了创新企业与非创新企业相比产生的生产力收益。