Towards an Innovation Culture: Enhancing Innovative Performance of Malaysian SMEs

The ability to have high level of innovative performance is essential in competitive global market, particularly for small and medium-sizes enterprises (SMEs). SME is the cutting edge of economic policy debate which innovation can be one of the engines of the growth. An examination of the relationship among organizational learning, innovation culture, and innovative performance leads to a conceptual framework that can help SMEs structure their business strategies and practices to keep them aligned with dynamic market. The framework may guide SMEs sector how to adopt innovation activities in their practices to gain a desirable performance in the competitive environment. A pilot study was conducted with a sample of five SME entrepreneurs from Malaysia participated in this study. A series of interviews were conducted among these entrepreneurs to probe into their outlook on innovation culture. The results showed that SME entrepreneurs highlighted the importance innovation culture via organisational learning in their business activities. Although some entrepreneurs perceived innovation culture is difficult to nurture, it serves as a key trend shaping their innovative performance in term of generating new ideas, knowledge and skills. In sum, this study generates agenda for researchers to reach more conclusive evidence about the practice of innovation culture and innovative performance among SMEs in Malaysia.