Why does value innovation play an important role for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)?
Innovation besides imitation is the foundation to conduct business and produce goods and
services. Each company needs at least at one point or another during its lifecycle innovation
to stay competitive within a market. Its importance increases throughout time because of new
companies accessing existing domestic markets by overcoming the market barriers and the
international integration of markets for global trading. Aside the well-known forms of
innovation a new type called value innovation was developed and published in 2005. This new
category is embedded as an essential part in a strategy theory recognized as Blue Oceans . This
blue ocean strategy challenges companies to break out of their current market space. But is
this kind of innovation really new and usable for general management consulting? The term value
innovation is not new within business science. However value innovation is used at a smaller
scale. Nevertheless its meaning within the new theory which defines a new way to develop
previously unidentified markets is crucial. It requires an overall new perspective of the
management to plan and carry out its business processes. Therefore its advantages are only
evident in a general strategy approach. Can this concept be turned into a consulting model to
support SMEs? Why are SMEs the right target group? Small companies often seek a market niche
which can be attained by differentiation in order to survive in competitive markets. Usually
the managers are using business strategies like cost cutting or differentiation of products
processes or services to find this niche. This approach originates from the assumption that a
group of buyers within the market is accessible or need the traded goods or services at another
level of quality prize design or function. Could this new theory help establish new niches?
The study will find answers to the questions mentioned above.
