REVOLUTIONIZING SMEs PERFORMANCE: EMPOWERING GROWTH THROUGH CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION, DYNAMIC MARKETING, AND INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a critical role in the global economy, but they often face significant challenges in realizing sustainable growth and competitiveness. One way for SMEs to enhance performance is over leveraging power of culture, marketing, and product innovations. This paper examines impact of cultural, marketing and product innovations on SMEs' performance and provides insights into how SMEs can effectively use these three factors to gain a competitive advantage. The sales volume was used as a measure of enterprises' performance, and the study sample consisted of 291 SME owners and workers drawn from target population provided by SMEDA. Descriptive and regression analyses were performed to estimate effect of innovation. Results showed that the SMEs in Lahore were predominantly male- owned businesses with majority of employees/ owners being single & having diploma level education. Regression results revealed a significant impact of innovation on the performance of SMEs in Lahore, with product, marketing, and organizational innovation having a statistically significant effect. Study concludes that SMEs should integrate culture, marketing, & product innovation to unleash their full potential and achieve sustainable growth.