Abstract
The purpose of this research was to find out the impact of the innovation in the SMEs of the Cox Bazaar as a case study and a detailed, qualitative research with providing the in-depth insight has been carried out. The methodology that has been used in this research includes the qualitative research with using personal observation, face to face interviews and photo elicitation. The population sample of this research paper is 9, and these are sufficient because the purpose of the paper is not to make the generalization and the convenient sampling has been used. In the literature review, the important areas of the innovation have been presented with the aim to find the gap between the literature review pertaining to this research project. This research contributes to the knowledge as it is unique in nature and provides the overview of the impact of innovation on SMEs in the Cox Bazaar. The case study methodology has been used. In the literature review, the important areas covered are innovation, technology and non-technology innovation, innovation in the hospitality industry, factors affecting innovation in SME hospitality organizations, process innovation, organizational innovation and aesthetic innovation. Further, this research is limited because of cross-sectional nature and time and place, and a 4 month study can be carried out to further explore the impacts of innovation in SMEs in the Cox Bazaar. In the results and discussion, the main themes that were identified are importance of innovation, factors inhibiting innovation, organizational innovation, challenges with the sub-themes of human resource and customer satisfaction. The other themes are marketing innovation with sub themes of digitalization and hygiene factors. The other theme is hospitality innovation with the sub theme of organizational management innovation. The process innovation has the sub themes of cuisine innovation and online facilities. The last theme was the aesthetic innovation with sub-theme of cultural innovation. Different areas have been covered in this research and the future implications are that the focus on a single theme can be carried out such as solely marketing innovation or cultural innovation etc.