TY - JOUR AB - Purpose– The aim of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of business improvement methods (BIM/TQM) in contributing to innovation implementation in SMEs within peripheral regions.Design/methodology/approach– A survey with responses from 606 SMEs in the North West European peripheral regions was administered. The survey explores the role of a range of business improvement methods (BIM/TQM) as an antecedent or stimulant in helping to achieve three levels of effective innovation implementation: introducing new products/services; engaging in innovation that resulted in major product/service innovation (radical), and engaging in innovation activities that did not result in major product innovation (incremental), and non‐innovative.Findings– The findings show that BIM/TQM was likely to stimulate and encourage the development of incremental levels of innovation in the SMEs where there was an emphasis on the people, or organic aspects of BIM/TQM applied, rather than more mechanistic BIM/TQM approaches. However, there was a lack of a clear link between BIM/TQM and radical innovation where newness in products/services and markets was required.Originality/value– There is a paucity of studies that probe the effectiveness of applying business improvement methods in stimulating innovation implementation, especially in peripheral regions and involving multiple levels of innovation. VL - 20 IS - 1 SN - 1462-6004 DO - 10.1108/14626001311298439 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/14626001311298439 AU - Harris Richard AU - McAdam Rodney AU - McCausland Irene AU - Reid Renee PY - 2013 Y1 - 2013/01/01 TI - Levels of innovation within SMEs in peripheral regions: the role of business improvement initiatives T2 - Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 102 EP - 124 Y2 - 2024/03/28 ER -