Technology and Product Innovation in Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the impact of technology and product innovation in manufacturing
companies in Nigeria. The objective of the study is to ascertain the impact of technology
on product innovation and customer satisfaction, and the impact of product innovation
on competitive advantage and profitability. The study adopted the survey type of
research design, where questionnaires are administered to respondents. The population
of the study comprised of twenty-three (23) manufacturing companies that are into
consumer goods listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange, each company was used as a
unit of analysis. Purposive sampling was used to select eighteen (18) manufacturing
companies which were used as the sample size. In each company, questionnaires were
administered to the managers and production managers to get their view on the subject
matter, making it thirty-six (36) copies of questionnaires administered and thirty-one
(31) were retrieved and used for analysis. Simple regression was used to test the
formulated hypotheses in line with the objectives of the study and the result revealed
that technology impacted positively on product innovation and customer satisfaction,
while product innovation impacted positively on competitive advantage and
profitability in manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study concluded that
technology and product innovation had positively impacted manufacturing companies
in Nigeria. This connotes that sustainable product innovation and development cannot
be attainable without the driving forces of technology. The face of production and
operational processes have changed over time in manufacturing companies dues to the
effect of dramatic changes in technology. The study recommended that manufacturing
companies should set up Competitive Intelligence (CI) and Strategic Intelligence (SI)
to attract every new technology invention in their product innovation from the
competitive market environment to attain sustainable business performance.