THE ROLE OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY IN INNOVATION MANAGEMENT OF SMEs IN SOUTHERN TURKEY

There has been very important changes in the world after globalization and advances in technology. Increasing rivalry has forced companies to be managed better using new management approaches and methods in order to survive. SMEs are more vulnerable in this competition due to limited budget and restricted management styles. Innovation has become one of the most important solution to this challenge in recent years. The objective of this study is to find out the effects of information systems and technology on SMEs innovation management approaches in Turkey. While the material of the study was collected through questionnaires, nonparametric statistical analysis was applied for hypothesis testing. We sent 2000 surveys to the SMEs located in Southern Turkey and 103 surveys were collected. : H1 Participants think that “Their company is innovative, H1: Participants think that “Innovation is important for their industry, H1: Participants think that “IT leverages innovation.According to the findings: i. 70.9 % of respondents claim that strategy is important for competitiveness. ii.59.2 % of them claim that their company has a strategic plan. iii.68.9 % think that strong rivalry exists in their industry. iv.69.9 % say that IT is an important enabler in innovation. v.70.9 % mention that innovation is one of the main part of their strategy. As a result, most of the SMEs in Turkey are aware of the importance of innovation and also the role of IT as an enabler of innovation. However, it is found that SMEs’ infrastructure of IT is not adequate enough to compete and survive in the world.