Non-technological innovations from organisational design and change perspectives in VSEs and SMEs: the case of management systems

The aim of this article is threefold. First, it is to clarify the definition of non-technological innovations based upon a survey of literature mainly in management sciences; second, it is to investigate, using this definition, the link between this category of innovation and organisational design and change; and third, it is to outline implications for entrepreneurial development in very small enterprises (VSEs) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The case of the management system, seen as a new way of organising and controlling management processes, is chosen to illustrate the findings. The interest of the article is to propose a two-step approach, with the characterisation of non-technological innovations through a typology. This typology allow identifying more clearly the status, roles, and contents which could be considered and fall within this category of 'non-technological innovation', and by doing so, highlight its interests for entrepreneurial development in VSEs and SMEs.