The relationship between strategic management and innovation: A research on smes in Niğde Organized Industrial Zone

The importance of strategic management and innovation concepts is increasing in today's world. This study examines the relationship between strategic management and innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The aim of the study is to evaluate how strategic management processes affect the innovative capacities of SMEs and the perspectives of senior managers on these two factors. In the study, data were collected and analyzed using quantitative research methods. The findings show that strategic management plays a critical role as a factor supporting the innovation processes of enterprises. The research results show that strategic management and innovation are two critical elements that complement each other. The effective use of strategic management strengthens the innovation processes of enterprises and shows that the integrated application of these two elements is important. In this context, it is important to conduct future studies with larger and more diverse samples in order to test the validity of similar results for enterprises of different sectors and sizes. In addition, supporting the findings obtained with quantitative research methods with qualitative research will contribute to a more in-depth understanding of strategic management and innovation processes and a better understanding of the difficulties encountered in practice. Thus, a more comprehensive literature can be created on the impact of these two important concepts on business performance.