Innovation capabilities in tourism and food production SMEs in the Baltic Sea Region

Drawing on the resource‐based view, this paper addresses two fundamental questions: what innovation capabilities are most important for the creation of innovations in Small and Medium‐sized Enterprises (SMEs) and what are the relations between different innovation capabilities? We propose a model for the analysis of innovation capabilities in small and medium enterprises. In the model, we distinguish between capacities, such as access to financial, physical, technological and human resources, and competencies, such as knowledge and skills, market and entrepreneurial orientation. The findings are based on surveys from 277 tourism and food production SMEs from five Baltic Sea Region countries.