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Currently, innovation is a major challenge in emerging economies such as Tunisia. Although the influence of leadership seems evident in the implementation of innovations, few studies have investigated this impact; especially for SMEs in the ICT sector. For this purpose, we propose to highlight the impact of leadership on the implementation of innovations in SMEs through exploratory qualitative study of five small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the high-tech sector in Tunisia, to understand the management styles of the chief executive officers (CEOs) and their motivations towards innovative activities. The results of this investigation show that the style of leadership in the ICT sector is both participative and transformational. Only organizational innovation has been detected. Collaborative work and group cohesion are the major cultural aspects of innovation. Items from this exploration allows us to clarify aspects of three basic concepts that make up our conceptual model (leadership, culture of innovation, and innovations) for testing later under a quantitative study by the method of structural equation modeling.

This study aims to identify the support practices that enable a successful family business succession process. Using 17 small- and medium-sized family businesses, the authors attempt to analyse the specifics of family business succession processes and identify the support practices appropriate to each phase of the process. The results show that advice and consultation are necessary during the pre-family business succession phase. Furthermore, the results reveal that training is needed to acquire and update knowledge and information during the family business succession phase. Finally, the results confirm that mentoring can ensure social and cognitive transfer in the post-family business succession process. This paper presents a theoretical innovation, as it is the first research study to attempt to understand how supportive practices can contribute to the success of the succession process.