Innovation or lmitation? How do SMEs enhance competitiveness?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to conduct empirical research to solve the conflicts among the previous researches which investigated the effect of innovation and imitation strategy on product performance for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) through theoretical interference. I collected data from senior managers in Chinese market through an online questionnaire and measured the relationship and the regulating effects of environmental factors with statistical software. I find that an innovation strategy is the better choice for SMEs in China. The demand uncertainty enhances the influence. Instead, technological turbulence hurts the innovators. Competitive intensity dose not influence any of the innovators and imitators. The result provides a practical suggestion for Chinese SMEs when faced with strategy choice issue.