Entrepreneurial orientation of SMEs, product innovativeness, and performance

This paper looks beyond the entrepreneurial orientation (EO)-performance link and focuses on identifying EO profiles of SMEs to suggest variations in product innovativeness dimensions of different performance potential. Based upon a sample of 149 manufacturing companies, the study identifies two opposite groups with the help of a cluster analysis, namely the: active entrepreneurs and the passive entrepreneurs. The particular results verify the viewpoints stated by industry experts in Greece, but also facilitate further understanding of firms following a similar duality observed in other studies. Taking a step further, subsequent analysis of variance demonstrates that these groups consist of product innovators, who take equal care of reducing customers' burden (e.g. time, effort, purchase risk) in adopting new products. However, the entrepreneurial attitude instilled in active entrepreneurs as compared with passive entrepreneurs is primarily mirrored in new products, which embody in their characteristics higher uniqueness; an ingredient found to act as an important contributor to product performance. This article, apart from its contribution to the entrepreneurship research, has meaningful implications for managers and policy-makers. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.