La relación entre innovación y desempeño en las Mipymes de países emergentes en América Latina

In a global context of change and uncertainty, innovation capacity is key to sustained development. The objective of this study is to empirically analyze the relationship between innovation and firm performance of MSMEs in emerging Latin American countries and to study the moderating role of investment and collaboration in this relationship. The sample of 104 MSMEs in the textile sector of apparel manufacturing in Peru and Colombia, is analyzed with the sequential explanatory strategy of mixed methods design: in quantitative phase with structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and in qualitative phase through thematic content analysis and Atlas.ti.22 software. The results show that Product Innovation only contributes to Commercial Performance and Economic Performance, with no significant prediction on Organizational and Productive Performance. Business Process Innovation is a significant predictor of Firm Performance, highlighting that 63% of MSMEs surveyed have introduced new production or engineering methods, marketing and sales processes, product development and design with an impact on the firm itself. The moderating effect of Investment on the relationship between Innovation and Firm Performance was only significant for Organizational and Productive Performance, and with respect to the moderating effect of Collaboration on the relationship between Innovation and Firm Performance, in the quantitative analysis no significant prediction was obtained, a result supported by the surveys, where 62.98% of the MSMEs never received support from other actors for the development of innovation activities. The application of the findings of this study will contribute to the proposal of public policies that promote collaboration between actors of the innovation ecosystem, as well as investment strategies for the development of innovation in emerging countries.