Adoption, Adaptive Innovation, and Creative Innovation Among SMEs in Malaysian Manufacturing

We categorized innovating firms in an ascending order as adopters, adapters, and creators to examine factors motivating these activities. For small firms, creation and adaption were significantly correlated with export orientation, engaging in collaborative research and development (R&D), receiving-technical support from outside agencies, gaining technology from parent establishments, and supplying parts to multinationals. For medium-sized firms, R&D incentives, collaborative research, and accessing technology from parent plants were significant. Adoption in small firms was associated with export exposure and operating for I I years or more. R&D incentives, collaborative research, and technology transfer from parent plants were negatively related to adoption in medium-sized firms.