Impact of innovation on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises in Angola - The case of Huíla Province

Innovation is identified as the key to differentiating SMEs, increasing customer loyalty, providing higher sales, market share and entry into new markets. The main objective of this study was to analyze the impact of innovation on the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Angola, specifically SMEs in the Huíla Province. The results obtained allow us to conclude that SMEs in the City of Lubango are not innovative, which in a way shows that innovation is not well managed by SME managers in Lubango. The third objective was to describe the types of innovation used by SME managers in Huíla. The results found showed that process innovation and organizational innovation are the most used by SME managers in Huíla. Finally, one of the objectives of our study was to analyze the effect of Innovation on the performance of SMEs in Lubango, through the application of the regression model and the correlation matrix, it was concluded that together, process innovation and organizational innovation contribute positively to the performance of SMEs in Huíla.