Product Innovation Strategy and Firm Performance: The Mediating Role of Novelty and Internationalization

This study examines the relationship between product innovation strategy and firm performance, focusing on the mediating role of novelty of innovation and internationalization. This study attempts to answer the following questions: 1) Does the choice of product innovation strategy affect firm performance? 2) Do product novelty and internationalization of innovation mediate the effect of product innovation strategy on firm performance?
To answer these questions, the study used data obtained from the obtained from the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) collected in 2015 for the four preceding years. The national innovation survey (NIS) is carried out periodically to measure changes in the key indicators of STI sector performance. The survey design was informed by international standard criteria laid out in the OECD Oslo Manual, the Community Innovation Surveys, and used the National Business Register as the master sampling frame. The sample was selected using stratified random sampling with simple random sampling within each stratum. The Survey collected information about product, process, organizational, and marketing innovations and other key variables during the four-year period 2011 to 2014 inclusive. The survey sampled 589 business establishments employing ten (10) or more persons from a total population of 6475 business enterprises during the reference period.
Product innovation strategy was measured with four binary variables. Firms which reported introducing a product innovation during the four years preceding the survey were asked to indicate (0=No; 1=Yes) by whom the innovations were developed. That is; mainly by the enterprise (Make), the enterprise by adapting or modifying product innovations originally developed by other enterprises or institutions (Imitate), the enterprise together with other enterprises or institutions (Ally), and mainly by other enterprises or institutions (Buy). Firm performance is assessed through two key variables: growth in turnover from the sale of product innovations and growth in the number of employees. Internationalization is estimated by two variables –establishing new subsidiaries and participating in export activities. Product novelty is evaluated based on the firm's introduction of innovations that are new to the firm or new to the market.
The study adopts the partial least squares SEM (PLS-SEM) modeling approach because the Uganda National Innovation Survey dataset does not directly lend itself to measuring the effect of innovation on firm performance. The results show that product innovation strategy directly affects firm performance. This relationship is magnified by the positive effect of the Buy innovation strategy on firm performance. The novelty of innovations mediates the relationship between the firm’s product innovation strategy and its performance.

本研究旨在探讨产品创新策略与企业绩效之间的关系，特别关注创新新颖性和国际化在其中的中介作用。研究试图解答以下问题：1）产品创新策略的选择是否影响企业绩效？2）产品新颖性以及创新的国际化是否在产品创新策略对企业绩效的影响中起到中介作用？为了解答这些问题，研究使用了来自乌干达国家科学、技术和创新委员会（UNCST）于2015年收集的，涵盖前四年（2011年至2014年）的数据。国家创新调查（NIS）定期进行，以衡量科技产业绩效关键指标的变化。调查设计借鉴了经合组织奥斯陆手册、社区创新调查等国际标准准则，并采用国家商业登记册作为抽样框架。样本通过分层随机抽样选取，并在每个层内进行简单随机抽样。调查收集了关于产品、流程、组织、营销创新及其他关键变量在2011年至2014年间的信息。在参考期间，调查从6475家企业中抽取了589家拥有10名或以上员工的企业。产品创新策略通过四个二元变量进行衡量。在调查前的四年内报告引入产品创新的企业被要求指出（0=否；1=是）创新主要由谁开发。即：主要由企业自身（制作），企业通过适应或修改其他企业或机构最初开发的产品创新（模仿），企业与其它企业或机构共同（联盟），以及主要由其他企业或机构（购买）。企业绩效通过两个关键变量进行评估：产品创新销售收入的增长以及员工数量的增长。国际化通过建立新的子公司和参与出口活动两个变量进行估算。产品新颖性基于企业引入的新创新或对市场而言的新创新进行评估。研究采用偏最小二乘结构方程模型（PLS-SEM）方法，因为乌干达国家创新调查数据集并不直接适用于测量创新对企业绩效的影响。结果显示，产品创新策略直接影响企业绩效。这种关系因购买创新策略对企业绩效的积极影响而被放大。创新的新颖性在企业的产品创新策略与其绩效之间的关系中起到中介作用。