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Firm-level innovation in sub-Saharan Africa remains under-researched. To address this gap, this paper examines the obstacles to innovation faced by small, micro, and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa. Using the 2018 Business Innovation Survey, we apply the double-hurdle model to investigate factors determining a firm's decision to invest, and the intensity of innovation. Our results show that cost and institutional obstacles were significantly more important as disincentive factors for medium-sized enterprises while knowledge obstacles were significant disincentive factors for large enterprises. In addition, market obstacles hampered investment among large enterprises. Interestingly, none of these factors was found to deter innovation intensity among small and micro enterprises. The study findings suggest that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to innovation policy and intervention programmes to support innovation within firms of different sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the nexus between innovation and employment growth. In contrast to most studies that employ data from technologically advanced economies, the study uses well-documented data from a leapfrogging and catching-up economy in sub-Saharan Africa. We find a positive relationship between process innovation and employment growth among Nigerian manufacturing and services firms from 2005 to 2010. Furthermore, product innovation is also positively related to employment growth in manufacturing. This study's peculiarity is that innovative firms' ability to grow rely on their operations in regional and export markets, respectively. Our study contributes to the understanding of innovation and firm development in emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]