Helen Reijonen

The effect of strategic orientations on business performance in SMEs

Purpose – The present study sheds light on the role of strategic orientations (SOs) in explaining business growth. The purpose of this paper is to examine how different SOs, namely learning orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation and brand orientation simultaneously affect business performance measured with brand performance, market performance and business growth in SME context and whether these effects vary across countries. Design/methodology/approach – An extensive data set of 1,120 effective responses is collected from two European countries, namely Hungary, representing a post socialist rapidly growing market, and Finland with a stable, highly developed and competitive economy. A multigroup moderation analysis is conducted. Confirmatory factor analysis is used in testing measurement invariance, subsequently followed by structural equation modeling procedure used in testing research hypotheses developed on the basis of a literature review. Findings – The results show that entrepr...

Understanding the small business owner: what they really aim at and how this relates to firm performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how business owners in microbusinesses perceive success and how that perception may influence the growth of their enterprise.Design/methodology/approach – The results of three separate studies were analysed. The data were collected with questionnaires and interviews among microbusinesses in the industries of craft and rural tourism in the area of North Karelia, Eastern Finland. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in the analysis.Findings – The paper found that the motives and goals of the small business owners were not oriented towards growth, but to quality of life, job satisfaction and satisfied clientele. Consequently, business success was measured by the respect and satisfaction of the customers, job satisfaction and the quality of product. From an economic perspective, making a reasonable living, not growth, constituted a measure of success.Research limitations/implications – Generalisation is affected by the fact that the study concer...

Are Growing SMEs More Market‐Oriented and Brand‐Oriented?

The aim is to examine whether growing, stable, and declining small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) differ from one another in terms of market orientation and brand orientation. The results show that growing SMEs have adopted market and brand orientations to a greater extent than have the stable or declining ones. They also suggest that these orientations can prove to be helpful in achieving different kinds of growth goals. Thus, in order to support the growth of SMEs, more information and training should be offered to them about issues relating to these orientations.

Do all SMEs practise same kind of marketing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to get a deeper understanding of how the concept of marketing is seen and put into practice in SMEs. Furthermore, it seeks to examine whether the perceptions and practices differ according to the size, industry and customers of the SMEs.Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted among SMEs in three industries in eastern Finland.Findings – Marketing was seen as a means to inform the customers about the enterprise and its offerings. SME marketers were also interested in creating and maintaining customer relationships. The main aim of marketing seemed to be to create sales. Marketing thought and practices cannot be regarded as being uniform within SMEs. The results show that they vary depending on firm size and customers.Originality/value – The study offers an insight into the little researched area of comparing marketing within SMEs. It brings empirical evidence of the perceptions of marketing and how they affect marketing management in small enterprises.

Customer relationship oriented marketing practices in SMEs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) gather customer information and act on it keeping in mind the profitability of the business operations. A customer relationship oriented marketing process is suggested. This process includes customer information gathering, customer segmentation, creating value by differentiation and managing customer profitability. Special attention is paid to whether industry, size and customer markets affect the extent to which these tasks are performed.Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected mainly through an online questionnaire from SMEs in three industries operating in North Karelia, Finland. Principal component analysis was used and, thereafter, the variables loaded on each of the factors were combined to composite measures. These composite measures were used as dependent variables in the analysis of variance exploring the differences between the SMEs.Findings – The results show great differences ...

The adoption of market orientation in SMEs: required capabilities and relation to success

The purpose of this paper is to offer an integrated view on the adoption of market orientation in SMEs and what kind of marketing capabilities are necessary for a small firm to act in a market oriented way. It is also discussed how market orientation is related to small firm success. Data were collected through a survey and thematic interviews in three different branches of industry in Eastern Finland. In the analysis mixed methods were applied. The results show that the studied SMEs had adopted different levels of market orientation. They generated market intelligence, but this was not necessarily done systematically or continuously. In addition, the acquired customer and competitor information was not disseminated or responded to actively. Consequently, the studied enterprises need to enhance their capabilities concerning these tasks of market orientation. The key elements of market orientation (e.g. customer orientation and market intelligence) were regarded as important success factors in SMEs. The expertise relating to these key elements did not, however, reach the same level with the importance showing room for improvement with regard to the required capabilities.

SMEs and public sector procurement: Does entrepreneurial orientation make a difference?

This article illustrates how the proactivity/innovativeness dimension of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) influences how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) search for information on public sector tender opportunities and their subsequent bidding activity. From an analysis of the contemporary literature and our findings, we demonstrate how successful SME participation in public procurement can be encouraged and increased.

Are growth-oriented SMEs more likely to adopt market and brand orientations?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how SMEs with varying growth intentions differ from each other with regard to market orientation and brand orientation. Both of these strategic orientations are seen to lead to enhanced market performance. Consequently, the authors investigate whether those small firms that regard growth as an important goal have adopted market or brand orientation. Design/methodology/approach – Responses from 492 SMEs were analysed. They were clustered into four groups according to their growth intentions. These groups included firms that have low growth intention, capital adequacy growth intention, expansion growth intention and high growth intention. ANOVA was used to explore whether these groups differed in their market or brand orientation. Findings – The results indicate that the higher growth intention group the SME belonged to the more market and brand oriented it is. The biggest differences between the SMEs were found with regards to brand orientation. Research li...

Does market orientation pay off without brand orientation? A study of small business entrepreneurs

ABSTRACT Market orientation and brand orientation are usually modelled as distinct antecedents of business performance, and the simultaneous performance effects of these orientations are empirically under-explored. Moreover, studies of market orientation and branding tend to focus on large corporations and the views of managers rather than the views of small business entrepreneurs. Addressing these research gaps, the current study explores market orientation and brand orientation by empirically testing their simultaneous effects on the business performance of small firms. Using primary data from 328 effective responses gathered from small business entrepreneurs, the study finds that market orientation improves the financial performance of a small firm only if it is implemented through brand orientation and eventually translated into brand performance. The results further indicate that older firms benefit more than younger firms from investing in branding, while younger firms benefit from paying attention to the actions of their rivals.

Does collaboration with public and private sector actors in public procurement of innovations improve SME competitiveness

The merits of public procurement of innovations (PPI) as a demand-side innovation policy instrument have been identified in both political and academic discussion. In particular, the involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in PPI could be a valuable tool in promoting SME innovations. As such, PPI could play an important role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in which interdependent actors collaborate. However, the impact of collaboration among entrepreneurial ecosystem actors in the context of PPI on SMEs’ competitiveness lacks empirical assessment. This chapter addresses this gap in the literature with a survey of Finnish SMEs. We propose a construct for SMEs’ improved competitiveness which can be attributed to involvement in public procurement. A statistical analysis applying a path model suggests that after controlling for firm size and age, innovativeness and industry, collaborating with the public sector customer in developing new products/services, improving production processes and making improvements to existing products/services in response to the public sector customer’s demand is associated with improved competitiveness. As a managerial implication, the results suggest that PPI has merits in promoting the competitiveness of SMEs through innovations.