The impact of strategic planning on innovation in Saudi SMEs

Abstract EN

Strategic planning may assist in new product development through innovation making strategic planning linked to innovation, but it can also restrict innovation and creativity.

This suggested the need to study the relationship between strategic planning and innovation, and mediating factors.

Strategic planning was examined as a possible determinant of innovation in Saudi SMEs, and the two mediating factors considered were commitment to learning and structural flexibility, which were examined for their interaction effects on strategic planning.

The methodology involved administering a survey questionnaire to 230 Saudi SMEs across a range of sectors, and 20 SME founders were subsequently interviewed.

The results show that strategic planning impacts significantly and positively on innovation in the case of Saudi SMEs, and there is a significant positive interaction effect of commitment to learning but not structural flexibility in this relationship, which establishes the mediating potential of commitment to learning.

Implications are drawn for learning-oriented planning, and for low-resource SMEs to gain sustainable competitive advantage.-