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This research investigates strategy-innovation relationship in manufacturing SMEs. The scope of investigation encompasses the technical, marketing, and organisational dimensions of innovation. Our work extends research on Miles and Snow's framework of strategy configurations by exploring the relationship between attributes of strategic posture and innovation behaviour. This approach aims to provide a more accurate representation of strategic management of innovation in manufacturing SMEs. Results (1) confirm the differentiated propensity to adopt specific innovation behaviours among strategic postures, thus confirming posture-specific innovation characteristics, and (2) highlight differentiated associations between strategic attributes and innovation attributes among strategic postures, thus bringing new insights on strategy-innovation fit. Results also emphasise the influence of hybridisation of strategic profiles on the predictive validity of strategy-innovation relationship. Finally, this research provides useful managerial inputs on the strategic management of innovation in SMEs from an innovation effectiveness standpoint.

A configurational approach to organizations assumes that structural and cultural characteristics must be in “fit” to produce the wanted outcome. With a focus on innovation, this study examines empirically to what extent innovative activities with a large, global telecom company are produced by an innovative culture, an innovative structure, as well as the fit between the two. Based on an extensive survey (N = 21064, response rate = 65) of employees in seven countries in Europe and Asia, data was aggregated to unit level as culture by nature is a collective phenomenon. The empirical analysis detected both the individual effects of culture strength and homogeneity, structure, as well as the fit between the two. The results indicate that an innovative culture and an organic structure indeed fosters innovation, but that, somewhat surprisingly, there are not effects of the fit between the two. Both practical and theoretical implications are discussed.