Boosting SME Market Performance Through Competitive Strategies and Innovation in Laos

There is no other way to describe Laos’s economy other than saying it is vibrant. There is so much tourism going on and the agriculture and retail sectors are thriving. Along with the other businesses, these types of businesses make up 90% of the Laos economy, providing jobs and opportunities for the business owners. SMEs are Laos’s economy backbone, with tourism, agriculture, and retails sectors employing 90% of the business and contributing 40% to the GDP. Unfortunately, the SMEs are held back by limited funds, low innovation, and competition. With the 0.04% of GDP allocated to R&D, it is clear Laos is not doing enough and their economy does not seem to be thriving much because of it. This paper investigates the role of cost and differentiated leaderships strategies, with core and edge incrementally and radically core anchored innovations on their respective domains. These innovations are indirectly linked to the rocks held on by perception towards the risks involved. With the help of the AMOS software and a survey conducted on 69 SMEs in Laos, it was produced that the edge core for uniqueness and core for efficiency innovations indirectly improves the efficiency. The majority of the perception risks tend to moderate these relations, and with Laos being a rather cautious nation, this is not uncommon. It is advised that low-risk innovations are paired with the strategies while the government and policymakers aid these SMEs with the rigid training and grants SMEs need to create the right balance. There was a problem with the scope of the study since a longitudinal study was not adopted.