Abstract

In the last decades, the word ‘innovation’ can be heard more and more on the entrepreneurial side. It has a crucial role in satisfying the customers, competition with other companies, and increasing the turnover of the enterprises. SMEs economic performance is directly affecting the national budget. Still, there is not a precise method of assessing and improving the innovation process at neither firm nor national level. The paper aims to analyse the current innovative performance of Moldovan SMEs. The analysis will explore factors affecting enterprise innovation. It will determine how the existing innovation ecosystem affects the one in an enterprise, and what methods should be applied to improve innovation as well as the ecosystem.  To gain insight, the study conducted an email survey of 150 companies, which were the object for research in the Republic of Moldova. The primary purpose of the study is to emphasise the importance of innovation issues related to increasing SMEs competitiveness, in connection with presenting the theoretical aspects in the field, proving basic concepts and quantifying them in the study of innovation as well as various forms, types and factors influencing innovative organisations. The objective of these enterprise questionnaires is to accumulate substantial and reliable information that is significant to responding to the fundamental research questions. Methodological tools of the research methods were the tools for statistical analysis based on using primary data from the questionnaire research. The reference period for statistical research was 2013 and 2017. The author collected the data between August and September 2018 based on questionnaires filled in on paper or sent through the email by the enterprises included in the research. The results of the study provide the following insights: product innovation is the primary innovation type among Moldovan SMEs; the country lacks financial resources for innovation support. Also, Moldova’s weak innovation ecosystem and lack of highly qualified workers slow down the development of enterprises. At the end of the thesis, the several recommendations for enterprise managers as well as high-level government organisations were provided.   

Keywords: ecosystems, entrepreneurs, innovation, small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, Moldova.

JEL Classification: O2, O3, Q56, Q57.

Cite as: Ubreziova, I., Diacikova, A., Sokil, O., & Apostol, S. (2020). Innovation ecosystems for the Moldovan small and medium-sized enterprises. Marketing and Management of Innovations, 2, 298-312. https://doi.org/10.21272/mmi.2020.2-22

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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