OREANDA-NEWS. February 22, 2016. In innovation, Baltic small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) prefer to focus on changes in products and services while the business model innovation plays a marginal role, according to the SEB survey Baltic Business Outlook (BBO) 2016.

When comparing the data collected during three recent editions of the BBO survey, products and services are clearly preferred field of innovation: In 2016, 39% of Estonian and Lithuanian and 36% of Latvian SMEs expect to focus on that. During last three years, the intensity of expected product or services innovation has increased in all Baltic countries.

Other fields of innovation are lacking the same appeal: In 2016, of Lithuanian SMEs 19% expect to contribute to employee innovation and training while in Estonia and Latvia the corresponding values are 16% and 12%. However, there is an upward trend in Latvia and Lithuania in terms of employee innovation.

Despite of challenges in external trade, changes in business model are expected in less than 10% of the SMEs in the sample. “This is an alarming indicator because in many sectors the Baltic SMEs are losing the low-cost advantage. The competitiveness in several markets is very intense and new solutions would help businesses to maintain and strengthen their positions. Assessment of the existing business model viability will be an important task for many SME in this and coming years”, said Eerika Vaikme-Koit, Head of Retail Banking and Technology Area .

In the autumn of 2015, the SEB Group in the Baltics carried out a survey to map the sentiment of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for the business year 2016. The newest edition of the Baltic Business Outlook sums up the project and provides insights from 5,119 Baltic SMEs participating in the survey.