In the present competitive environment, organisations must inevitably progress to gain and maintain a long-term competitive advantage. Hence, organisations must embrace organisational readiness for change (ORC), which denotes the level of preparedness of an organisation to adopt a change through deploying new management strategies and new projects. This study evaluated the ORC of 70 Moroccan SMEs involved in the sector of labelled agri-food products to join a future innovative cluster. Three dimensions were employed to measure ORC, namely organisational culture, motivation, and climate. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to examine the impact of ORC dimensions on the perceived benefits for the firm. The findings demonstrate that the human factor appeared to be more favourably disposed to change. Organisational motivation displayed a significantly positive effect on perceived benefits through minimising production costs when working together in innovative projects. Despite this, the impact of organisational climate and culture was insignificant. This shows that the selected firms need more support to adopt new changes through integrating a new service cluster and, cooperating together in innovative projects. Our study may support SMEs, policymakers, and researchers in devising guidelines that promote better practices for the agro-food SMEs to function effectively.
To take advantage of existing opportunities in a market of global competition and rapid changes, firms try to adapt their strategy by introducing new or improved innovation types. While there is a large body of literature investigating the relationship between innovation and performance, there is a need to further analyze the role of innovation type on performance, especially in SMEs. Using a scoping review approach, this study aims to evaluate the influence of innovation types on firm performance in SMEs. A total of 47 studies were selected to examine the correlation between innovation type and performance, and identify the key factors that strongly impact the firm growth per industry. Findings demonstrate the difference in innovation impact according to the targeted industrial sector and show which type could be more beneficial to enhance firm performance. In the most studied industries, results reveal that product innovation influences strongly firm performance in the manufacturing sector, while marketing and product innovation are the variables that most impact the growth of agro-food firms. Similarly, organizational and product innovation affect highly firm improvement in the manufacturing and service sectors. This study helps managers in their struggle to obtain growth by targeting the most appropriate dimensions of innovation and helps policy makers by making decisions that stimulate firm development.
A field study was carried out for two years at an organic farm under arid climate in Morocco to investigate the effect of an integrated biofertilization approach on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal (AMF) abundance and infectivity, soil fertility, yield, and fruit quality of date palm. The biofertilization approach included three management practices namely application of compost, inoculation with a consortium of native PGPR strains originally isolated from date palms of Drâa-Tafilalet region (Pseudomonas koreensis, Serratia nematodiphila, S. marcescens, and Klebsiella sp.) and using mixed-cropping with sorghum. Accordingly, four treatments were established in this study: 1) mixed-cropping with sorghum, 2) PGPR inoculation, 3) sorghum + PGPR, and 4) control (without sorghum or PGPR). All treatments received compost as organic amendment. Results revealed that mixed-cropping with sorghum significantly increased AMF colonization intensity and spore density by more than 50% and 29%, respectively. Sorghum association also resulted in a significant increase in organic matter concentrations of up to 2.95% against 2.45% in monocropping soils. The integrated biofertilization approach resulted in the highest yield with an increase rate of 10.6% and 12.1% in the first and the second year, respectively compared to date palms receiving compost alone. Similarly, the mineral composition and quality characteristics of date fruits were significantly improved. The enhancement of soil fertility and date palm productivity under harsh environmental conditions represents a first step towards the adoption of sustainable practices in the region and in similar areas.
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