Reinforcing the innovation performance of SMEs through innovation culture and government support

Abstract

Innovation has become an approach to create value to customer in order to remain competitive in the market. However, previous research on innovation performance particularly among Bumiputera SMEs has received little intention. Hence, Bumiputera SMEs need to inculcate the innovation culture in order to generate innovation performance. An interview was conducted with a sample of ten Bumiputera entrepreneurs in Malaysia which probing into their outlook on the innovation culture towards innovation performance. The results showed that innovation culture in Bumiputera SMEs is important and government support plays an important role to strengthen the relationship between innovation culture and innovation performance. Therefore, this study provides useful pointers to entrepreneurs and policy makers on the importance of innovative culture and enhancing innovation performance in Bumiputera SMEs.