Innovation and business performance in Australia: Role of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship in a crisis

Abstract

This descriptive study aimed to examine entrepreneurship’s and intrapreneurship’s roles in translating innovation intention into performance by examining Australian businesses. The primary aim was to investigate whether innovation-active businesses outperformed non-innovation-active businesses. It used the summary data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics about business innovations during the 2020–2021 financial year. The study included intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship as mediator constructs to hypothesised research questions. The study descriptively analyzed data that compared performance increases from the 2019–2020 to 2020–2021 financial year of the COVID-19 crisis period. It found that innovation-active businesses outperformed non-innovation-active businesses. The performance increased with the size of the business, with large businesses performing best, followed by medium-sized and small businesses. There was no distinctive difference between those with innovation-active and non-innovation-active status for businesses that maintained the same or decreased performance. The Theory of Planned Behavior provided the theoretical framework for the study. The study also found businesses post-crisis have broadened their performance outlook towards a triple bottom line way of thinking, contributing to economic, social, and environmental performance. Considering the findings, the study suggests some policy changes to help businesses thrive after the COVID-19 period.

Management of Innovations by Increasing the Efficiency of Innovation Activity of the Enterprise

“…Particularly in times of crisis, innovation is essential for reducing risks and preserving competitiveness [19]. Companies who don't innovate and set themselves apart from the competition may find it difficult to get financing, which might result in unstable finances and even worse outcomes [20].…”

Entrepreneurial bricolage: A key to innovation for SMEs in a developing economy

“…Moreover, empirical evidence suggests competition can have two opposing impacts on firm innovation; while competition can encourage firms to innovate in order to remain competitive, it can also reduce a firm's market share, sales, and profit, making it more challenging to implement costly innovations (Canare & Francisco, 2021). Additionally, asset size was likely to have a favorable impact because larger companies often have more resources for innovation (Abeysekera, 2023;Moen, 1999).…”

Activity-based costing technology adoption in Australian universities

“…The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of strategic cost management in Australian universities, which experienced a sharp fall in revenue because of astonishingly low international student enrolments, upon which universities had previously heavily depended for their revenue and organizational performance ( Thatcher et al, 2020 ; Doidge and Doyle, 2022 ). Adopting innovations is in the heart of the Australian economy and was a highlight of Australian organizations successfully emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic ( Abeysekera, 2023 ).…”