PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to find out whether any relationship can be found among learning orientation, learning culture in general and innovation achievements in SMEs.Design/methodology/approachIn‐depth research based on questionnaires and interviews was carried out. The sample was analyzed using multivariable correlation.FindingsIt is found that to the majority of SMEs innovation means product or technology innovation, and only a negligible minority think about management‐related innovation. There are few SMEs who encourage learning and act upon building a learning culture, but those who do are far more innovative than the rest. Those with a low interest in learning and building a learning culture perform poorly in innovation.Research limitations/implicationsInternational comparison would have been useful, especially in the region.Practical implicationsThe research has proved that an encouraging external environment and a supporting internal environment are equally important for successful innovation in SMEs. Therefore the government and the EU in general should support SMEs' innovation more successfully, and SMEs should put more emphasis on learning, knowledge creation and building of a learning culture.Social implicationsFor societies suffering from a high unemployment rate it is crucial to find sources for job creation. Innovative SMEs can be the best sources for new jobs.Originality/valueThe importance of learning, learning culture and knowledge creation for innovation in SMEs has been proved.

Purpose Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of economies. They employ about 70 percent of the working age population and produce on average about half of new value-added. Self-employed micro’s are a special segment of the MSME population. They are either the typical service providers or the new start-ups, later becoming rapidly growing gazelles. It is therefore very important that the majority of these businesses survive crises. There are plenty of suggestions about what governments should do to help, but what should MSMEs themselves do, not only for survival but also for a successful future? This is the topic of this article. Design/Methodology/Approach The article is based on international research findings and the long-time professional experience of the author on the operations of the MSME sector in an international context. Findings MSMEs can survive and even thrive on challenges created by sudden crisis situations, like a pandemic, if they have a proactive managerial mentality and also diverse professional knowledge, often called intellectual capital. There are well-known, but perhaps now neglected, management techniques which can support this combination of short and long run orientation, including future building aspirations. Combined they can enhance the intellectual capital stock of business, serving as a springboard for future sustainable success. Originality/value Crisis situations do not happen – fortunately - too often. Therefore. experiments about how to handle them, especially in the MSME sector are not extensively available. This paper suggests a tool-set which might be especially useful not only for handling crisis situations, but also for improving chances for lasting business success.

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A gazdasági csapdahelyzetbe kerülés okainak kutatása hosszú időre tekint vissza. Alapvetően a kutatók azt vizsgálják, hogy milyen fejlődési utakat választanak az egyes országok, és annak következtében, hogy alakul az egy főre jutó GDP értékük. Ha ennek növekedése lelassul vagy stagnálni kezd, akkor azt valószínűsítik, hogy az ország közepes jövedelmi csapdaveszélybe került. Korunkban azonban a GDP mutató már nem méri megbízhatóan egy ország gazdasági-társadalmi működésének eredményességét. A gyorsan változó körülmények között a fejlettségi mutatók alakulása ad megbízhatóbb képet arról, hogy egy ország teljesítménye nemzetközi összehasonlításban javul-e vagy stagnál. Éppen ezért indokolt a fejlettségi csapdaveszélybe kerülés esélyeit kutatni. A cikk széleskörű statisztikai adatelemzésre támaszkodva vizsgálja a V4-ek és közöttük Magyarország fejlettségi mutatóit a versenyképességi listákon vezető helyen lévő EU-s országok fejlettségi mutatóihoz viszonyítva. Az elemzés következtetése, hogy Magyarországot és más V4 országokat is, fejlettségi mutatóik alapján, a fejlettségi csapdába kerülés veszélye fenyegeti, ha nem fordítanak jelentősen többet ezen mutatók értékének javítására. Research in the field of falling into economic trap has a long history. The basic scope of research is the investigation of what development path is chosen by the different countries, and in consequence how will the value of the GDP per capita develop. In case the growth of the GDP per capita value slows down, or stagnate the researchers suggest a potential danger for the country to fall into a middle income gap. Nowadays however the GDP is not any more appropriate for measuring reliably the economic-social performance of a country. In the rapidly changing environment only the development indicators can properly demonstrate in international comparison whether the performance of a country is improving or stagnating. Therefore it is more convincing to measure the potential danger for a country to fall into a development gap. The article examines the development indicators of the V4 countries on a wide statistical basis, and compares them to those of the developed EU countries beiing in leading positions on the competitiveness rankings. The article concludes by proving that if Hungary and other V4 countries do not invest considerably into improving the value of their development indicators they will be at danger to fall into the development trap.

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