Background: This article contributes to existing literature by examining the relationship between inbound open innovation and firms’ financial performance in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. Aim: This article seeks to identify the factors of inbound open innovation and whether these factors influence the financial performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. Setting: This article examines 150 indigenous oil and gas SMEs in the upstream subsector of the Nigerian petroleum sector through a survey, using a questionnaire, conducted in 2015. Methods: The study applied the structural equation modelling (SEM) method. This method is used to test the relationships between the factors and to calculate the measurement errors in the hypotheses formulated. Results: The results show that technology scouting, vertical technology collaboration (VTC) and horizontal technology collaboration (HTC) positively and significantly contribute to inbound open innovation, which are thus significant in influencing the financial performance of SMEs. The size of technical staff and research and development (R&D) fund allocations also have a positive and significant correlation with the SMEs’ financial performance. Meanwhile, the age of SMEs is negative and not significant in influencing financial performance. Conclusion: The results suggest that inbound open innovation through scouting, HTC and VTC should therefore be encouraged among SMEs to boost their internal capabilities, which have hitherto enhanced their financial performance. The management members of each SME should continually consider collaboration with the external actors because they cannot singularly possess all the innovative skills required in the industry. Also, each firm should commit itself to allocate more funds to R&D and at the same time should hire those who have relevant production skills and train the existing ones in their firms.

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This paper uses econometric model to analyse the impact of technological innovation and R&D on firm performance in the Nigerian service sector. The sector is attracting interest in policy circle because it has become the fastest growing sector globally. The analysis is based on data obtained from the Nigeria's innovation survey, 2008 undertaken among 500 enterprises in the service sector with about 41% response rate. The instrument was guided by the third edition of the Oslo Manual standardised through validation workshops under the NEPAD ASTII initiative. The result shows that technological acquisition, training and in-house R&D positively influence technological innovation while government support and embodied knowledge are insignificant. Also, technology innovation and R&D have positive impact on firms' performance. This paper offers an opportunity to understanding the impact of technology innovation and R&D on performance of service firms in developing country context.

Financial technology (Fintech) innovation has brought a dynamic change to the financial sector as new products and services are offered by conventional banks and other companies offering banking services through various online platforms. The attitudes of the end-users tend to play a great role in the adoption of any technology. This paper investigated the factors influencing the attitudes and intention of the end-users towards using Fintech services within the purview of an expanded technology acceptance model (TAM). The study was conducted on 467 end-users in Lagos State, Nigeria, using structural equation model analysis. The results revealed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, service trust and social influence have positive and significant impact on users' attitude towards Fintech service with path weights of 0.55, 0.63, 0.27 and 0.41, respectively, at 1% level of significance. In addition to this, users' attitude towards Fintech services is positively significant in influencing the adoption of Fintech service with path weight of 0.85 at 1% level of significance. The study suggests that more investment is made in Fintech innovations and that banks sensitize the general public using social media, TV and radio stations. Further, proper regulatory measures by the relevant regulatory agency must be implemented to instil confidence and trust in the endusers. This would boost the level of adoption of Fintech among the end-users in Nigeria.

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R&D and Innovation activities, which lead to technological progress, are considered as important factors contributing to stable and continuous economic growth. Total Factor Productivity accounts for the proportion of economic growth that is not captured by labour and capital inputs, and is measured by R&D and innovation in this paper. The paper investigates the impact of R&D and innovation, labour and capital on economic growth in Nigeria using Least Square Method. The result of the thirty one (31) years reviewed shows that Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) has significant impact on economic growth. The coefficient of R&D which is negatively related to economic growth implies that it is not enough to increase spending on R&D and innovation when there are weak institutions, high corruption practices, low interaction between the academia and the industry, uncoordinated industrial clusters, among others. The result also shows that both labour and capital are directly related to economic growth, though the former plays a significant role while the latter does not. This paper concludes that government must be committed to R&D and innovation funding, developing strong institutions, enhancing the academia-industrial linkage as well as implementing a workable science, technology and innovation policy in order to bolster and diversify the economy. Government should also provide various fiscal incentives for the industrial firms in their various clusters so as to encourage them to engage in R&D and innovation activities, either through reverse engineering or inventing new ones, as this will not only lead to economic growth but also raise the global competitiveness of Nigeria.

Abstract:There is no doubt that new or improved product or process of production continues to create firm's competitive advantage over others in the market. This study examined the impact of research and development (R&D) expenditure, product and process innovations on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) performance in the manufacturing industry in Nigeria using a survey of 1,000 SMEs with a response rate of 52.1% in year 2009. The results with least squares method showed that R&D spending by the firms as well as product and process innovation has significant impacts on the firm's performance with the probability value of 0.0529, 0.0624 and 0.0086 respectively at 10% level of significant. Also, training of workforce constitutes the major innovation activities in the Nigerian manufacturing SMEs as against in-house and outsourced R&D activities. This study suggests improvement in R&D spending and other technological activities which are expected to increase SMEs' profitability and thus generate more employment in the country.