The effect of innovation in automatic identification technology on new venture sustainability in Southern Africa

Abstract

The study explored the effect of innovation in automatic identification technology on new venture sustainability in Southern Africa as measured by entrepreneurial orientation and technological orientation on business performance. The research evaluates the representation of perceived entrepreneurial orientation & technological orientation of new technology ventures within the Auto ID supply chain and how the continuous adoption of new technologies impacts firm performance within the supply chain. The research investigates how entrepreneurial orientation and EO dimensions moderated by technology orientation affect non-financial business performance of these new technology ventures. An observation identified as a motivation for the study is that new venture opportunities arise after technological breakthroughs or radical changes in existing technology that are offered to retail supply chains. However, within retail supply chains implementation, it is not always done by the new technology ventures who develop it. The purpose of the research is to conceptualise how NTV’s entrepreneurial orientation affects non-financial business performance and how entrepreneurial orientation moderated by technological orientation influences non-financial business performance. The research design is cross-sectional with primary data in that it is identifying an observational study analysing a population at a specific point in time. The rationale of the research is primarily quantitative. The targeted respondent sample size of 284 returned questionnaires was selected using a form of probability sampling from a targeted 1500 potential respondents. The target population comprised of the following types of NTV’s namely; a) Auto ID Software Providers; b) Hardware Suppliers and c) Process Service & Support Providers (Datalogic, 2018). The primary research data was targeted towards senior & middle management or specifically to representatives within the sample population entities as derived from pre-existing database from a reliable auto-ID distributor operating throughout the SADC region.