Title: Towards the innovation of high-tech small-medium enterprises (SMEs): the interview approach

Authors: Wei Xue; Yijie Chen; Qianwen Xu; Victor Chang

Addresses: International Business School Suzhou, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, 215123, China ' International Business School Suzhou, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, 215123, China ' International Business School Suzhou, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, 215123, China; School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BX, UK ' School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BX, UK

Abstract: With the fierce competition in the global market, the Chinese government pays more and more attention to the innovation of small-medium enterprises (SMEs), especially to the innovation activities of high-tech SMEs. The research concludes the model-factors influencing the innovation of SMEs, which is based on the past literature research and collect the primary information through the face to face interview. In this research, 50 employees from 10 SMEs around Suzhou, including 10 officers from the government, were interviewed. The research result indicated that the key factors influencing the innovation of SMEs are government incentive policies, entrepreneurship, competition, and demand from the market. And based on the research result, the paper constructs the SMEs innovation model (SIM), which would be used for further research.

Keywords: small and medium-sized enterprises; innovation; high-tech; interview approach; economics in Suzhou.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2021.115506

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2021 Vol.21 No.4, pp.503 - 532

Received: 20 Feb 2020
Accepted: 09 Jun 2020
Published online: 07 Jun 2021 *

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