INNOVATION EXPERIENCE OF ENTREPRENEURS OF HIGH TECH SMEs IN TURKEY

Year 2017, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 177 - 190, 30.06.2017

Dilek Demirbas

https://doi.org/10.17261/Pressacademia.2017.507

Abstract

Purpose- The goal of this study is to explore and define the barriers
to innovation perceived and experienced by entrepreneurs of High Tech SMEs in
Turkey.

Methodology- In order to
investigate the research question, an online questionnaire that was created for
the purpose of this analysis. 
Questionnaire consists of 25 questions covering up four groups of
barriers to innovation (formal, informal, environmental and skill barriers). In
total, 225 High Tech SME entrepreneurs from the Istanbul region completed the
questionnaire. Logit models were estimated using the Eviews software
programme.

Findings- An analysis
of 225 High Tech Turkish SME entrepreneurs reveals the fact that “lack of
sufficient government’s R&D and technology policy” from formal barriers;
“Informal economy’s negative impact on investment” from informal barriers;
“high cost of innovation” and “lack of appropriate source of finance” from
environmental barriers and “lack of qualified personnel” from skill barriers,
are the most important barriers, which have significant effects on the
entrepreneurs’ innovation decisions in Turkey.

Conclusion- The survey results show that entrepreneurs, who know
how to innovate, are those who have more perception of the barriers to
innovation. However it is observed through the logistic regression model that
some of the relations established between the barriers to innovation and the
entrepreneurial innovative capacity are not statistically significant. 

Keywords

High Tech SMEs, Barriers to Innovation, Entrepreneur, Turkey

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