The Influence Prism in SMEs: The Power of CEOs' Perceptions on Technology Policy and Its Organizational Impacts

Abstract

Cette étude examine la relation entre la politique technologique et l'orientation stratégique de l'entreprise en tenant compte de l'effet modérateur de la perception de l'environnement sur la performance ultime de l'entreprise. L'étude fut réalisée dans un échantillon contrôlé de 84 petites et moyennes entreprises. Les résultats suggèrent que la perception des dirigeants d'entreprises de l'environnement dans lequel ils opèrent est une dimension essentielle de la stratégie technologique poursuivie par une firme.

This study examines a group of SMEs operating in the same industrial sector but with policies, strategies, and practices that differ significantly. An integrated framework is presented whose predictor variables comprise the Strategic Orientations of Business Enterprise (STROBE), structural characteristics and process, while the dependent variable relates to technology policy, the moderator variables to perceptions of the external environment, the predicted variables to realized innovative efforts (RIE), and the outcome variables to organizational performance. Analyses of data from 84 SMEs demonstrate substantial support for the framework and reveal the strong moderating influence of perceived environment on the relationship between predictor variables and technology policy and technology policy and RIE. The findings show a weak relationship between RIE and financial performance but a stronger relationship between RIE and export performance. The results illustrate quite convincingly that perceived environment is a crucial aspect in determining technology policy and subsequent RIE, both of which represent important dimensions in the strategic management of technology. This paper therefore stresses the need for better knowledge of how managers and executives form their perceptions of the environment. This knowledge can be crucial to understanding how strategic management of technology is enacted in SMEs.