Concepts and importance of strategic innovation in SMEs: Evidence from Serbia

Abstract

This paper aims to define a concept of strategic innovation given the impact it has on competitiveness, creation of growth strategies, new product categories and business models, as well as on changing the rules of the game on the existing market. In this sense, companies have to strategically redefine their business, to define new ways of competing in order to offer new value for consumers, stakeholders and companies themselves. If companies want to be successful they have to discover and exploit new strategic positions that emerge from time to time as industry evolves. Supporting this, the paper presents strategic elements of the National Innovation System (NIS), which can significantly contribute to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to boost their business and to increase their competitiveness and innovativeness. Starting from the strategic positioning map, the paper gives some of the possible answers to the question of how SMEs in Serbia can improve their business, i.e., how the NIS can influence SMEs in terms of increasing business success.