Competitive intelligence and absorptive capacity for enhancing innovation performance of SMEs

In dynamic and complex environments, it can be difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to achieve business performance, innovate and survive, even though these actions are crucial for economic growth and competitiveness. Competitive intelligence (CI) appears as a strategic practice to help them. Although there are many theoretical studies that propose the relationship between CI and innovation, few studies have conducted empirical studies in the context of SMEs. The objective of this paper is to investigate how competitive intelligence enhances innovation performance in the context of a SME. Based on a literature review and empirical data from several interviews with managers of one SME, our findings allowed us to propose a framework showing the contribution of CI to innovation performance relying on absorptive capacity. Our findings also highlight that a prospector owner-manager can improve the results of CI in the SME and contribute to better innovation performance.