Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) located in the least developed countries (LDCs), operate in distinctively hostile institutional environments compared to those in developed economies. Better understanding of the determinants of SME innovation in such environments is important for the development of private sector in LDCs, because innovative SMEs are crucial for sustainable economic growth. Yet, determinants of SME innovation in LDCs have hardly been studied. Considering the potential relevance of internationalization for SME innovation in LDCs, as means of overcoming domestic environmental constraints, this paper investigates the influence of foreign technology licensing, exports and imports on SME innovation in LDCs. The study employs data from 1,058 manufacturing SMEs from Sub-Saharan LDCs-Djibouti, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The findings suggest that foreign technology licensing is found to be positively and statistically associated with SME product and process innovations in Sub-Saharan LDCs. Findings are compared with those from developed economies in order to identify distinctive features. The implication is that SMEs in Sub-Saharan LDCs need to be supported by different policies compared to developed economies. The results also show that R&D, firm size, sectoral characteristics and access to finance are important determinants of SME innovation.

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PurposeTackling structural and emergent problems in the labour market, valorising skilled human capital (HC) for opportunity creation, economic development and growth, are some of the key drivers for graduate entrepreneurship. This paper aims to examine developments in Africa, focusing on the significance of improving human capital through graduate entrepreneurship to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachBased on a unique Education Partnerships in Africa (EPA) project the paper adopts a conceptual and exploratory approach to understand the institutional, cultural and economic dimensions of change and the specific role of graduate entrepreneurship education and training in enabling productive outcomes, using an illustrative case study of the project to develop the arguments.FindingsKnowledge creation lies at the heart of entrepreneurship development in developing economies such as Nigeria. Knowledge creation (KC) for entrepreneurship (E) is based on human capital (HC) development. In circumstances of uneven growth in developing economies HC development is the only constant. Harnessing HC for entrepreneurship can be based on three sets of propositions derived from an examination of the relationship between KC, HC and E, which locate graduate entrepreneurship's role within a holistic, institutional framework.Originality/valueThe paper's originality lies in the development of a model for promoting and evaluating a holistic approach to graduate entrepreneurship in developing countries based on the targeting of MDGs. It offers new insights into the role of graduate entrepreneurship in economic and social development.

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An agile workforce refers to a workforce that is proactive, flexible and resilient in dealing with non-routine and unpredictable circumstances. Even though past research suggests that agility could have a positive effect on firm performance, there is hardly any empirical evidence on whether agility matters for high-growth firms (HGFs). The purpose of this research is therefore to investigate the extent to which workforce agility increases the likelihood of firms becoming HGFs in the high-tech manufacturing sector of a developing economy, and whether the relationship is mediated by new product innovation. We develop a theoretical framework that explains how and why a firm that has an agile workforce that is proactive in creating new products, flexible in responding to changing environment, and resilient in turbulent times, is more likely to create innovative products, and thus secure temporary monopoly, which increases the likelihood of the firm becoming a HGF. Then, utilizing firm-level data from high-tech manufacturing sector of a developing country, Iran, we test several hypotheses using logistic regressions. We find that workforce agility significantly increases the probability of high-tech manufacturing firms becoming HGFs, but that this relationship is mediated by new product innovation. Implications are drawn for theory and practice.