Statistical correlation of innovation, financing and COVID-19 with competitiveness and permanence of SME's in Navojoa, Sonora

Abstract

Economic globalization has created many challenges for SMEs due to the rapid growth of competition. Therefore, the failure rate of these businesses is relatively high compared to their short life span from inception. Due to this, businesses must adopt survival strategies to succeed in their sector (Prasanna, Jayasundara, Naradda, Ekanayake, Rajapakshe, & Abeyrathne, 2020 p. 1). In the case of Mexico, innovation in these economic units is fundamental to subsist or try to achieve a competitive advantage; the results obtained by Lopez, Somohano and Martinez (2016), show differences between companies that applied innovation to a greater degree and those that did not, the former obtained strong and good technological positions, with a higher probability of obtaining higher net profits on sales (p. 20-21). Another important factor is financing, i.e., if one can access one of the available credits, this source is usually burdened with very high interest rates and long repayment terms, resulting in a greater challenge to develop or expand the company. Another factor that intervenes according to the International Trade Center (2020), is the present pandemic by COVID-19, since it is presented as an obstacle for SMEs, which needs to be overcome with the application of strategies that support the resilience of this type of business (pp. 6-7). Regarding the statistical correlation, a linear regression was applied in whose results of the summary of the statistical model, a relationship is observed between innovation, financing and COVID-19 with the competitiveness and permanence of the SMEs, presenting a Multiple Correlation Coefficient R=.678, that is, a proportion of 67.8% is evidenced, showing the variability of the correlation between variables. Therefore, the p-value (marginal significance) for this model was 0.033, so the null hypothesis is rejected, thus accepting the alternative hypothesis, i.e.: Ha Innovation, financing and COVID-19 are related to the permanence and competitiveness of SMEs from Navojoa.