**5. Knowledge gap analysis: methods, data, findings and conclusions of studies on and evaluation of innovativeness in new business ventures**

There are several studies worldwide on this subject in general and specifically on innovation and entrepreneur start-up rates, innovation as a strategy and how it affects performance, as well as implementation of innovation. Here we only review a selection of such studies to familiarise ourselves with what has been done so that we uncover the knowledge gap, that is, what has not been done, on this subject in general and specifically Gauteng Province. Apart from findings and conclusions, we also look out for research procedures and methods that such studies applied so that we establish some methodological options that we also can employ when undertaking the empirical part of this research.

Scholars have attempted to link innovation and firm performance. For example, [20] sought to explore and establish Tanzanian new business venture innovative activities and how this determined performance in manufacturing sector. They tracked five innovation indicators—that is, knowledge and technological information, knowledge and skills, growth performance, characteristics and capabilities and external relationships and nature of the market—over three years. Despite low levels of competition and a lack of government support or help from academic institutions, results show that new business ventures do innovate. Most support comes from fellow entrepreneurs as well as customers—this certainly needs further exploration. Further, a large number of new business ventures tend to improve on products and services initially supplied by other firms if such products or services are in demand. Therefore, *A Conceptual Framework for Researching Disruptive Innovation and Innovative Business Models DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.111808*

one can use a firm's innovation capability to determine its performance [21]. A study by Zott and Amit [22] found a similar result, that is, an innovative business model contributes to a firm's success.

Kropp, Fredric and Shoham's study [23] examines the interrelationships amongst entrepreneurial learning, market orientations and international entrepreneurial business venture (IEBV) performance using a sample of 396 entrepreneurs. The results show that innovativeness determines the performance of IEBVs. In addition, the results show that IEBVs that include innovative concepts in their strategies perform better than those without. Purcarea and colleagues [24] got the same results in their study on 161 Romanian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that explored SMEs' approach to learning and innovation. Their findings show that SMEs' innovation depends on their business models and strategic direction. As a result, they recommend on-going interventions that promote innovation in every industry.

Studies on the implementation of innovation in new business ventures present a wide range of results and findings, therefore, presenting an opportunity to explore this subject further. Obviously, one question to pursue is why such studies have such a diverse set of results and findings. Could it be the different contexts, or are there other attributes at play? For example, [25], whose sample comprised entrepreneurs, policy makers and academics, sought to demonstrate whether Italian entrepreneurs are drivers of radical innovation. Their research shows that the views of the entrepreneurs on this subject are different from official views. The former feel like policies that support innovation are absent contrary to views held by politicians and senior technocrats. Such findings remind us of the importance of stakeholder engagement and alignment when crafting public policies.

Robson, Haugh and Obeng [26] collected data from 496 entrepreneurs in Ghana to study innovation in new business ventures. The results confirm that Ghanaian entrepreneurs are indeed innovating their products and services. Further, their results show that the level of education has an impact on the level of innovativeness. Another obvious factor is that larger firms tend to have an advantage because they have more resources to innovate.

Anokhin and Wincent's study [27] used data collected in 35 countries from 1996 to 2002 to establish the relationship between innovation and start-up rates. Similar to earlier studies – for example, [28] as well as [29] – their results show that there is no collinearity between innovation and new business start-up rates. However, they argue that this is because the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship depends on the country's stage of development. Therefore, measuring the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship is not as direct. Further, the results and findings cannot be generalised because the propensity of innovation differs. Entrepreneurs in less developed countries pursue necessity-based innovation that hardly advances the innovation trajectory, whilst entrepreneurs in developed countries pursue high-end innovation. Earlier, [30] had cautioned against generalising the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship because of added complexities presented when industries and geographical locations are different.

Using a sample of 4000 enterprises including notable corporates, the South African National Innovation Survey [31] reported that about 65 per cent undertook innovative activities. Of these, about 4 per cent reported that their innovations were not only new to the South African market but also new to the world. However, caution must be exercised when reading into these figures because the sample includes wellestablished corporates.

Autio and colleagues [32] use Global Entrepreneurial Monitor to explore the importance of context in innovation and entrepreneurship. They demonstrate that entrepreneurial innovation seems high, and therefore, self-employment rates in developing countries are also high. Whilst self-employment rates are lower in the developed countries, the aggregated contributions of entrepreneurs to innovation is very high. Therefore, different contexts—such as technological and industry context, organisational and social contexts, institutional and policy contexts—are interdependent and influence innovation and entrepreneurship. Indeed, small and medium enterprises do exploit new technologies to start businesses using social networks as a marketing and information dissemination platform.

In sum, there are notable detailed innovation and new venture business studies on the African continent including South Africa. For an important topic, there is minimal research focusing on the South African context with the exception of [5, 33] as well as [31]. Further, most studies have explored the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship in new business ventures in one firm or industry. Therefore, there is a lack of cross-industry or cross-sector information on the subject. In addition, most studies have not incorporated some important factors such as determinants of innovation as well as innovation challenges faced by entrepreneurs on the continent.

Other than these knowledge gaps, there are useful frameworks as well as research procedures and methods that the empirical part of this research can benefit from. For example, [26] have interrogated innovation and entrepreneurship after understanding the Ghanaian context. Examining small businesses and entrepreneurship from a historical perspective and how it has informed the current state of innovation in Ghana provides for a detailed understanding of innovation and new business ventures. This is the light in which we should interrogate the South African experience. The question is, 'what are we going to do about it?'
