Analysis of the marketing innovation capacity of SMEs processing cereals, fruits and vegetables: conceptualization and measurement

Abstract

Innovation is an essential condition for any company that wants to survive or be competitive (Temri, 2000). Thus, SME must anticipate the desires and expectations of customers despite the difficulties of access to financing (Diop, 2019) that they encounter knowing that innovation requires a lot of resources, knowledge, skills, tools and interrelationships (Cortes Robles, 2006; Morel et al. 2015). This paper is part of a resources approach and aims to identify the different factors which determine the capacity for marketing innovation among SME. The results obtained after using the qualitative and quantitative methodology as well as the Churchill paradigm, show that the capacity for marketing innovation has three dimensions: partnerships for innovation, means of innovating and the manager's desire to innovate. An analysis and discussion of these results makes it possible to understand that the innovation capacity of SME/TCFL does not only depend on the financial resources at their disposal.

Key words : innovation, marketing, marketing innovation capacity, SME managers,

processing of cereals, fruits and vegetables

Classification JEL : M31

Paper Type : Empirical Research