In today’s fast changing business environment, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to seize the technological opportunities that this environment provides, by developing dynamic capabilities to build and attain high performance. This dissertation looks at the effect that technological opportunism has on the performance of SMEs in Namibia. In addition, the dissertation looks at the mediating role of dynamic capabilities on the relationship between technological opportunism and SMEs. The study draws from the dynamic capabilities view for theoretical context. The literature reviewed enabled the development of a conceptual model, which further contributes to theory. Data is drawn from a random sample of 209 SMEs located in Namibia. Results from the regression analysis suggest that the effect of technological opportunism on the performance of SMEs is partially mediated by dynamic capabilities. For the three capabilities assessed, the learning and integrative capabilities have a partial mediating effect on the link between technological opportunism and performance, while the transformative capability does not mediate this relationship. The study offers important academic and business implications, and also points out future research directions. The findings serve as a guide to best improve the work done in this sector, with an emphasis on how to best develop SMEs’ capabilities with regard to new technology initiatives, aimed at improving SMEs. SME owners are encouraged to build capacity, embrace partnerships and develop capabilities that results in better performance.

Yes / Although scholars have recognized that alertness is critical in identifying and exploring opportunities, empirical studies exploring when alertness drives innovation are lacking. Drawing insights from the cognitive and contingency perspectives, the current study addresses this gap in by arguing that variations in firm product innovativeness is a function of degree of entrepreneurial alertness and levels of internal firm capabilities and environmental conditions. Data were collected from from 385 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. This study used the hierarchical regression estimation technique to analyses the data and found that a significant positive relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and firm product innovativeness. Moreover, the findings showed that entrepreneurial alertness is beneficial for firms to innovate when pressures from customers and competitors are intense. Finally, the results revealed that stronger market information sharing and technological opportunism also amplify the alertness-innovativeness relationship.