Purpose of the article: The article is focused on innovation activities that are considered a key element forfuture competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises. As a result, various public policies supportinginnovative enterprises are being presented both on European and national level. However, few of them have alreadycontributed to higher innovative performance of small and medium-sized enterprises. One of the reasonsis the unclear definition of innovations and lacking comparison of commercial performance of various typesof innovations. The article intends to fill the research gap and provide additional information about innovationactivities of Czech small and medium-sized enterprises, which might help not only policy-makers and scholarsbut also business owners and managers. At the very beginning, the article identifies key issues in currentmethodologies of innovation classification and provides its own solution. Based on the proposed classificationand supported by a survey, it gives an overview of how Czech small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)implement such innovations and how successful these innovations typically are. As a result, the article providesimportant insights for innovation managers in their decision-making processes. It also provides importantinputs for academic research in the field of innovation management.Scientific aim: The article intends to contribute to the current scientific discussion of innovation performanceof Czech SMEs. It looks at innovations from a multi-dimensional perspective and provides own methodologyof their classification. Based on the data gathered within a recent survey, it discovers what type of innovationsCzech SMEs typically deal with and how successful such innovations are after their launch.Methodology/methods: In order to fulfil the scientific aim, various methods were used. Based on analysis of currentliterature, a complex overview of current issues in innovation management was obtained. Using synthesis,own methodology of classification of innovations was presented, building on and developing other current methodologysystems. Based on the own classification, empirical testing was performed within an electronic survey.Findings: The article discovers high reliance of Czech SMEs on know-how demanding innovations, especiallythose requiring new technologies and new knowledge. They are not only the innovations that are the most likelyto be launched once an enterprise wants to achieve a long-term competitive advantage or disrupt a market. Theyalso play an important role for enterprises trying to gain a short-term competitive advantage or to maintain theircompetitiveness. The results, however, show that in many cases the enterprises would be better off relying ondifferent type of innovations not only by raising the success rate but also by saving significant R&D costs.Conclusions: The results of the survey provide important inputs for future research that should focus on raisingawareness of less technologically demanding innovations in Czech small and medium-sized enterprises.As results of foreign surveys show, such innovations not only lead to a competitive advantage that is sustainablein a long-term but are also less demanding in terms of finance.
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