How does customer and supplier cooperation in micro-enterprises affect innovation? Evidence from Pakistani handicraft micro-enterprises

Yongzhong Yang and Mohsin Shafi ()
Additional contact information
Yongzhong Yang: Sichuan University
Mohsin Shafi: Sichuan University

Asian Business & Management, 2020, vol. 19, issue 5, No 2, 530-559

Abstract: Abstract Due to resource constraints, short product-life cycle, and increased competition, handicraft micro-enterprises face many difficulties. By investigating the individual effects of customer and supplier cooperations on innovation (and thereby, firm performance), this study reveals how micro-enterprises can overcome such limitations and maintain competitiveness in the market. We find that cooperation with both partners significantly and positively affects product innovation, but only cooperation with suppliers has significant and positive effect on process innovation. In turn, product and process innovations significantly and positively affect a firm’s financial and non-financial performances. Our findings provide useful theoretical and practical implications.

Keywords: Cooperation; Handicrafts; Micro-enterprises; Product innovation; Process innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41291-019-00072-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:abaman:v:19:y:2020:i:5:d:10.1057_s41291-019-00072-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.palgrave.com/gp/journal/41291

DOI: 10.1057/s41291-019-00072-4

Access Statistics for this article

Asian Business & Management is currently edited by Fabian Jintae Froese

More articles in Asian Business & Management from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().