Helen Salavou

The concept of innovativeness: should we need to focus?

Organisational innovativeness is a broad concept involved in a firm’s proclivity to innovate. As such, widely varying conceptualisations and operationalisations of this construct appear to be the main cause of major deficiencies in the research of organisational innovativeness determinants. This article suggests a shift in emphasis from organisational to product innovativeness. After defining this concept, it selectively addresses how the investigation of product innovativeness as a dependent variable could contribute to further research and theory development. The benefits of such an investigation are far from restricted to the recommendations made herein. However, such recommendations are meant to intrigue scholars into conducting similar investigations on product innovativeness, a rather overlooked aspect of organisational innovativeness.

Radical Product Innovations in SMEs: The Dominance of Entrepreneurial Orientation

The present study focuses on strategic factors underlying the adoption of radical product innovations in SMEs. It investigates whether market focus, technological posture and entrepreneurial orientation lead to the adoption of more radical product innovations. The study provides some new evidence on this issue drawing upon data collected from Greek SMEs in the food and beverages industry. More specifically, a logistic regression model is applied to analyse the choice between radical as against incremental product innovations. Empirical results appear to support the claim that it is mainly entrepreneurial orientation that favours the choice of radical product innovations. This suggests that in SMEs the notion of entrepreneurial-push outweighs both market-pull and technology-push arguments. The findings are discussed in the context of Greece, taking into account the specific conditions prevailing. Apart from providing some new evidence in the important area of SMEs, they have also important implications for managers and policy-makers. In addition, they encourage further theoretical and empirical investigation.

Product innovativeness and performance: a focus on SMEs

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to classify firms according to dimensions of product innovativeness (PI) and identify differences in performance on the product and the firm basis in the context of SMEs.Design/methodology/approach – To answer the questions this empirical study raises, a sample of 128 SMEs is clustered on the basis of the PI construct. After validating the clusters, an analysis of variance is performed to detect differences, if any, across performance measures on PI profiles of SMEs.Findings – This paper provides evidence in support of three groups featuring different levels of PI, namely the straight imitators (low PI), the product innovators (high PI) and the concept innovators (medium PI). Further, it shows that these groups demonstrate differences in their performance potential at the product but not at the firm level.Research limitations/implications – This paper refers to an empirical study of SMEs in a European Union (EU) member state since 1981, namely Greece, which is far from r...

Profitability in market‐oriented SMEs: does product innovation matter?

A significant body of research has focused on the conceptualization of market orientation showing evidence of a positive relationship between market orientation and business performance. However, little attention has been drawn to how innovation could affect this link. Keeping track of limited research on this issue, this study attempts to empirically investigate the moderating effect of product innovation, if any, on the market orientation – profitability link in SMEs. Drawing upon data collected from the food industry in Greece, the findings suggest that product innovation is partially tied to this relationship. Apart from providing some new evidence, the results lead to managerial implications and reveal considerable scope for further research.

Strategy types of service firms: evidence from Greece

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to empirically examine different types of service firms, featuring strategy orientations and the performance of different emphases.Design/methodology/approach – To answer the questions the paper raises, data of 80 Greek firms of the services sector are analysed with the help of factor analysis, cluster analysis and analysis of variance.Findings – The findings reveal three types of firms pursuing different strategy orientations for dealing with competition (i.e. the hybridists: 44 firms, the confused strategists: 25 firms and the non‐strategists: 11 firms). Furthermore, they suggest that performance is dependent on these strategy types.Research limitations/implications – The study provides new evidence outside the manufacturing industry and the US context, which dominates the literature. Nonetheless, further empirical research will help to generalise the findings within the services sector in Greece and/or comparable national contexts, especially within the European U...

Strategy types of exporting firms: a view on the basis of competitive advantage

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine types of exporting firms featuring strategy orientations and profitability of differential emphasis.Design/methodology/approach – To answer the questions the paper raises, data of 82 exporting firms established in Greece are analysed with the help of factor analysis, cluster analysis and cross‐tabulation.Findings – The findings reveal three types of firms pursuing different strategy orientations for dealing with competition in export markets (i.e. the marketing‐based strategists, the hybridists and the non‐strategists). Furthermore, they suggest that export profitability is dependent on these strategy types.Research limitations/implications – Generalisation of the research results should be made with caution. A fruitful direction of further research is to replicate the principal features of the study with other samples of firms in Greece or in comparable national contexts, especially within the European Union.Practical implications – The empiri...

Entrepreneurial learning in the international new high-technology venture

We examine entrepreneurial learning in a high-technology firm that internationalized its activities from inception. Based on the small firm learning process model of Zhang et al. (2006), we seek to contribute to theory through examining the process of entrepreneurial learning as this applies to international new high-technology ventures (INHTVs). Towards this objective, we draw upon evidence from a single case study conducted over a seven-year period. The evidence suggests that entrepreneurial within an INHTV is a continuous learning process made of multiple learning epochs, which are learning loops rooted in similar learning mechanisms. We advance three research propositions associated with entrepreneurial learning in INHTVs. First, entrepreneurial learning in the INHTV is a process that starts at the individual level and progressively encompasses the whole organization and its networks. Second, the INHTV learning process is affected by the industry, technological and international learning orientations in which it operates; these, in turn, are contingent on the entrepreneurial team’s industry, technological and international learning orientations. Third, international learning orientation defines the business scope and critically affects the discovery of opportunities of the INHTV.

Competitive strategies and their shift to the future

Purpose – This article aims to describe the valuable work conducted most recently on competitive strategies. Its purpose is to elaborate on suggestions for theorizing the hybrid form of competitive advantage and stimulate the interest of scholars. Design/methodology/approach – As this article emphasizes hybrid strategies, both electronic and manual methods have detected 15 studies focusing on competitive strategies and their relation to firm performance from 2000 until today. Findings – This article underlines the need to deal more thoroughly with combined-emphasis competitive strategies, which have seriously enhanced Porter’s paradigm, defined in 1980 with three single-emphasis strategic choices. The era in which combining competitive strategies was synonymous with stuck-in-the-middle alternatives has been left behind, and the era in which hybrid strategies suggest the most attractive choices, at least in some circumstances, has already begun. Originality/value – This article is one of the few stressing ...

Hybrid strategies in Greece: a pleasant surprise

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically whether a hybrid, compared with other forms of competitive advantage, contributes to better business performance.Design/methodology/approach – Based on 105 food manufacturing firms in Greece, a European Union (EU) member state, this study performs a factor analysis, a cluster analysis and an analysis of variance.Findings – This study provides evidence in favour of the hybrid as the best‐performing form of competitive advantage for Greek food firms. Specifically, the findings show pure (the cost‐based nichers: 36 firms), combined (the hybridists: 49 firms) and stuck‐in‐the‐middle (the confused strategists: 20 firms) strategic alternatives that differ in terms of performance.Research limitations/implications – Research on Porters dominant paradigm within Europe is surprisingly limited. Given the call for further research on competitive strategy to focus on European firms, this Greek study extends Porters original model and represents one of...

Generic business strategies of Greek exporting firms

The primary aim of this study is to explore the strategy-export performance link by adapting Porter’s (1980) classification scheme to an export context. Using a sample of 79 exporting firms established in Greece, this study employs a multiple linear regression model to examine the direct effect of generic business strategies on export sales intensity. The findings reveal that a differentiation strategy is an important contributor to export sales intensity for Greek manufacturing firms competing in the international arena. Given the negative effect of this strategic choice, recommendations for adapting the characteristics of differentiation have to be qualified. Obviously, when competing abroad, such an adaptation may require a thorough and systematic examination of the products or related services that are perceived to be sufficiently unique or valuable for customers to justify paying premium prices.