Title: Advancing small and medium-size enterprises' performance by adopting marketing and service innovation

Authors: Aram Hanna Massoudi; Sahar Jalal Fatah

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Cihan University-Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq ' Department of Business Administration, Cihan University-Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Abstract: Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in Iraqi economic growth. However, according to Iraq Ministry of Trade, the numbers of SMEs in Iraq are fading every year since 2006. Therefore, this current study explores the influence of marketing innovation and service innovation on improving SMEs business performance. This study uses qualitative approach. The data were collected from a questionnaire distributed to 128 SMEs in various Iraqi cities. Pearson correlation analysis was used to test the research hypothesis. The result showed that collectively the two factors, marketing and service innovation have positive influence on SMEs business performance. The findings of this study provide insights into how managers and owners at SMEs can enhance the performance. This can be done by implementing marketing and service innovation. Also, it is importance to economic theorist and practitioners looking for ways to improve their business performance. The scope of this article is limited to only SMEs, specifically private enterprises in Iraq.

Keywords: small and medium-size enterprise; SME; marketing innovation; service innovation; explorative innovation; exploitive innovation; performance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPM.2021.117884

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2021 Vol.14 No.6, pp.742 - 758

Received: 18 Jan 2020
Accepted: 26 Jul 2020
Published online: 04 Oct 2021 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article