The causes of success and failure in the innovation studies of smes

The aim of this paper is to put together and bring into use the types of innovation that has become an important concept in today?s market conditions, the capabilities of the SMEs innovation making and the success and failure in their developing a new product by a general literature search.The greatest factor for SMEs being the subject of a research is to contribute to the limited number of research in the area as even though they are the generator of the economy it is obvious that problems of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises are ignored.Today, innovation emerges as a concept which has become popular. So much so that it is the innovation that brings profit which sets the route of global economy rather than capital or labor. These innovations takes place at such a dizzying speed that it has become impossible to resist the changes. In such market conditions those firms which makes different and striking innovations will stand.From this perspective, because of their facilities, although large-scale enterprises are thought to be more advantageous it should be kept in mind that SMEs (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) have a lot of advantages. What is important is to maintain the persistence of innovation and make it a company culture. The thing to note here is that R&D work may not always bring a successful innovation. However, it should be noted that innovative ideas can emerge as a result of a very simple process from time to time. Sometimes an idea which is not considered significant might be liked by the customer while another which is thought to be admired by the customer may not find a place in market.It is possible to provide these innovation ideas from internal or external company resources. The duty of today?s managers is to follow an innovative and encouraging policy. Prosperity and business development both on the bases of company and throughout the country will able to be provided only in this way.New product development process consists of activities starting and continuing with producing and sorting out these ideas, developing the new product concept, setting down the marketing strategy, making the financial analysis, developing and testing the product and resulting with market testing and commercialization. In the cases which this process doesn?t work well the company may have large financial losses in the future. Therefore all steps should be carried out meticulously.These stages do not fully work in SMEs as in large-scale companies. Because business owner is also the administrator, many operations are carried out and important decisions have to be taken by the business owner alone. Starting from the fact that SME managers in our country often don?t have adequate training, necessarry machinery and equipment and are experiencing financial problems, we can say that in SMEs this process is inoperative. Finding a solution to these shortages of SMEs by the government is crucial for social welfare.This study consists of four parts. In the first chapter, general information is given about the concept of innovation. In the second chapter, new product development process and strategies are discussed. In the third chapter, new product development activities of SMEs and their problems and in the last chapter the successes and failures of new products are discussed in detail.Key Words: SME, New Product Development, Innovation