Technology innovation and financial performance of MSMEs during Covid-19 lockdown in Dammam area of Saudi Arabia: A case of food and beverage sector

The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown associated with it have shown how turbulent the business environment could be The resources (tangible or intangible) become very crucial to the survival of firms during this period Innovation has theoretically been documented as a valuable resource which could foster firm performance The aim of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between innovation efforts, technology innovation and the financial performance of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in food and beverage sector in Dammam area of Saudi Arabia The results of structural equation model reveal that innovation efforts contribute positively and significantly to product and process innovations Meanwhile, process innovation is positively significant in influencing the MSMEs' financial performance whereas product innovation though positive but not significant This implies that top management in this sector should concentrate more on process innovation as this improve their financial performance during the lockdown in Dammam Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd