Innovation in the “forgotten businesses”

Purpose – The objective of this article is to discuss how the research on innovation in the small businessesmay be operationalized. This paper discusses the field’s concepts, typologies, units of analysis and thegeneral basic assumptions pertaining to the operationalization of innovation research in small businesses.Design/methodology/approach – The article is an essay, whose format aims to provide the reader withreflections and multiple questions, by instigating the free thinking, the research as well as the construction ofdifferent ideas and/or perceptions in a logical and scientific way (Meneghetti, 2011). Thus, a conceptualapproach for the operationalization of the innovation research in small businesses is proposed and discussed.Findings – Most of the innovation literature has ignored the small businesses, so that its core concepts andbasic assumptions should be reviewed in an inclusive approach. The authors developed an analyticalproposal that consists of a four-step logical approach to researching innovation in small businesses, startingfrom the innovation’s concept as something important and then evolving to discussing how one has to try andsee the small business as an object of study.Originality/value – The value of this paper lies with the attempt to critically bring the small businessesinto the spotlight, as study them has practical and theoretical implications that go beyond the field ofinnovation itself