Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the impact of strategic competitive innovation types on the financial performance of SMEs during a very critical period: the COVID-19 pandemic. Four strategic competitive innovation types are considered in this study: marketing innovation, organizational innovation, product innovation and processes innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

To examine empirically the relationship between strategic competitiveness and financial performance, data were collected from a sample of 426 Lebanese SMEs belonging to seven different sectors.

Findings

The empirical findings of principle component analysis model (PCA) and multiple regression model (MR) reveal that the ability to innovate is essential to an SME’s survival during a crisis. The results of this study confirm the existence of a positive impact of marketing innovation and processes innovation on the financial performance of SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Practical implications

Moreover, results suggest that, in Lebanese SMEs, product innovation and organizational innovation do not have any impact on the financial performance during the pandemic period.

Originality/value

This research focused on strategic competitive innovation as a broadly considered essential condition for the survival of SMEs during the COVID-19 crises.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19大流行期间战略竞争创新对中小企业财务业绩的影响

目的

本文的目的是揭示战略竞争创新类型在非常关键的时期：COVID-19 大流行期间对中小企业财务业绩的影响。本研究考虑了四种战略竞争创新类型：营销创新、组织创新、产品创新和流程创新。

设计/方法/方法

为了实证检验战略竞争力与财务绩效之间的关系，从属于七个不同部门的 426 家黎巴嫩中小企业样本中收集了数据。

发现

主成分分析模型（PCA）和多元回归模型（MR）的实证结果表明，创新能力对中小企业在危机中的生存至关重要。本研究的结果证实，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，营销创新和流程创新对中小企业的财务业绩存在积极影响。

实际影响

此外，结果表明，在黎巴嫩中小企业中，产品创新和组织创新对大流行期间的财务业绩没有任何影响。

原创性/价值

这项研究的重点是战略竞争创新，这是在 COVID-19 危机期间被广泛认为是中小企业生存的基本条件。