Academic and practitioner have considered innovation as an approach to produce value to customer in order to remain competitive in the market. However, previous studies on innovation culture among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have received little attention and SMEs need to inculcate the innovation culture in order to generate innovation. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the influence of organizational culture, organizational learning and market orientation on innovation culture. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to gather data from SMEs in Malaysia. Questionnaires were distributed and gathered with a total of 183 usable responses. The analysis was conducted via SMART PLS to produce interesting findings. Findings suggest that all dimensions of organizational culture (adaptability, involvement, mission and consistency) have an influence on innovation culture, organizational learning in terms of information acquisition and behavioural & cognitive have an impact on innovation culture. Finally, only competitor orientation influences innovation culture. Although SMEs play an important role within the Malaysia economy, their contribution to innovation is small and marginal. This study makes an important contribution by providing information to SMEs on the elements that could nurture innovation culture in their organizations. As such, it is hoped that this study will generate interest among the researchers to reach more conclusive evidence about the practice of innovation culture among SMEs in Malaysia. More effort should be devoted to comprehending the concept of innovation culture among SMEs from the context of developing country. The findings combined with the suggestions may offer alternative insights on innovation culture and extend a basic framework for further investigation.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Bangladesh have been growing for the preceding two decades in various ways. Even though these enterprises exert an important effect on the national economy of the country, they face certain challenges and suffer in quite a manner. To reduce the suffering and help deal with these unavoidable challenges, SME foundations in Bangladesh have been working a lot to assist these enterprises. Usually, the challenges are financial, regulatory, or innovation performance-related. Since the enterprises are focused on particular products and their manifestation and production, performing innovatively within these organizations becomes quite a constraint factor. In this paper, a qualitative method was applied with soft systems, where an innovation model was commenced to reduce the challenges and constraints of SMEs in Bangladesh. From the literature, 50 articles were analyzed, a content and thematic analysis was done, and eight main challenges were highlighted and finalized. On the other hand, a focus group discussion among 10 entrepreneurs in Bangladesh was done, where collected data were stored in the NVIVOMac tool, transcribed, and coded, and 55 open codes were identified. These open codes were transferred to 20 axial codes and 8 themes to construct a conceptual innovation model for SMEs in Bangladesh by applying soft systems techniques to connect the themes to each other.

Digital business model innovation (DBMI) is often claimed to be a ‘game changer’ for SMEs in Malaysia. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can use digital technology to coordinate business activities and create and deliver differentiated value to customers in both domestic and global markets. The literature on DBMI is sparse in the SME context. Therefore, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight SME top managers to investigate how SMEs in manufacturing and service sector can implement DBMI (value creation innovation, value proposition innovation, value delivery innovation, value capture innovation); the challenges encountered in the DBMI adoption process and how they can be resolved; and perceptions of DBMI (whether as a ‘storm’ or ‘silver bullet’ for SMEs competitiveness). The findings highlight that DBMI is perceived as a ‘silver bullet’ for SMEs that will allow them to improve competitiveness and sustainability in the digital age. This study contributes insights and valuable information to researchers, academics, SMEs, entrepreneurs (managers) and policy makers.