Performance and innovation in SMEs : questioning relations and measures

Noting that in management science, management policies would have all, the ultimate ambition of contributing to company performance and the innovative capacity of a company would be a sine qua non of this performance, this article shows that (i) these two concepts refer to disparate content; (ii) the performance is primarily measured by distanced indicators (financial); (iii) the nature of the interdependence between innovation and performance is not unequivocal. Considering the weight of contextual variables, we show the interest to adopt a broader vision of concepts of innovation and performance in SMEs, capitalizing on the diversity of performance and innovation characterizations, and adopting an agnostic approach establishing no a priori link between them. This article proposes to broaden the concepts of innovation and performance by mobilizing indicators specific to SMEs and outlines a methodology to measure and weigh them as well as to provide researchers with tools to better understand the interactions between these variables. In doing so, we contribute to a critical approach of de-naturalization to emancipate SMEs and, more broadly, public and regulatory authorities, from narrow performative standards.