Innovation Dans Les PME Africaines
Entre Défis de Financement et Contraintes Du Climat Des Affaires Innovation in African SMEs: Between Financing Challenges and Business Climate Constraints
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21571004 |
|---|---|
| Authors | ERIOLA Akitola Jesse (0000-0003-1893-6440, Faculté des Sciences Economiques et de Gestion Université D’Abomey‐Calavi Cotonou Benin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences / Revue Canadienne des Sciences de l Administration (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0825-0383 • E-ISSN: 1936-4490 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/cjas.70066 |
| OpenAlex | W7161567077 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 106 |
Innovation in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) is a key driver of sustainable and quality development in Africa. This study investigates the impact of financial constraints and the business environment on SME innovation in sub‐Saharan Africa. The data used in this research come from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) conducted in 2022 and 2023 on a sample of 1685 SMEs in eight African countries. A composite index of the business environment was constructed based on firms' subjective assessments of the constraints they faced, using a principal component analysis (PCA) method. Probit model estimation shows that financing constraints negatively affect product innovation, whereas their impact on process innovation is more nuanced. Interestingly, a less favorable business environment appears paradoxically to encourage product innovation. The findings also reveal that investing in research and development (R&D) positively affects both types of innovation. This study contributes to institutional theory by highlighting that institutional weakness can, under certain conditions, be leveraged to stimulate SME innovation. It also calls on policymakers and SME leaders in sub‐Saharan Africa to rethink investment strategies to more effectively overcome constraints and stimulate innovation
Business development · Business environment · Product innovation · Sustainable development · Economic Growth and Development · Firm Innovation and Growth · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development
The myopia of learning
Entrepreneurship in and around institutional voids
Developing Innovation Capability in Organisations
Is Slack Good or Bad for Innovation?
De Facto Political Power and Institutional Persistence
Firm Innovation in Emerging Markets
Upper Echelons
An Index of Factorial Simplicity
Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning
Ancrage territorial et hybridation des savoir-faire au sein d’un système agroalimentaire localisé. Le cas des fromages corses
Riding the populist wave
Digital infrastructure and innovation in Africa
Corruption
Innovative Capability and Financing Constraints for Innovation
Constraints as sources of radical innovation? Insights from jet propulsion development
Trade Facilitation and Manufactured Exports
Financial constraints, government support, and firm innovation
Investment Climate and Firm Performance in Developing Economies
Institutions
| Highly cited | No |
|---|