Despite the limited resources of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), they can still manage to be competitive and survive in the current environment by implementing competitive strategies that lead to innovation and improve their market performance. The aim of this study is to examine and analyse the effect of business strategy on market performance in Spanish small and medium-sized entrepreneurial enterprises, and the mediating effect of innovation is explored as a solution to business crises. In addition, we analyse the moderating effect that the perceived risk of COVID-19 may have on this relationship, as well as whether the commercialisation capacity of SMEs exerts an impact and improves performance based on innovation. Taking 1,842 Spanish entrepreneurial firms with fewer than 250 employees as a reference and using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), our study shows that entrepreneurial SMEs that apply a competitive strategy can achieve enhanced innovation. Moreover, this innovation has a direct and positive effect on the market performance of SMEs, and this effect is greater under higher marketing capability. Our findings suggest a heterogeneous effect on the impact of the perceived risk of COVID-19 on the strategy-innovation relationship. In entrepreneurial SMEs that adopt a differentiation strategy, the perceived risk has an enhancing impact, while in entrepreneurial SMEs that follow cost strategies, the effect is negative.

尽管中小企业资源有限，但他们仍然可以通过实施创新和提高市场绩效的竞争战略，在当前环境中保持竞争力并生存。本研究的目的是考察和分析西班牙中小企业的经营策略对市场绩效的影响，并探索创新的中介作用作为商业危机的解决方案。此外，我们还分析了COVID-19的感知风险可能对这种关系产生的调节作用，以及中小企业的商业化能力是否会产生影响并提高基于创新的绩效。我们以 1,842 家员工人数少于 250 人的西班牙创业型企业为参考，并使用偏最小二乘结构方程模型 (PLS-SEM)，研究表明，采用竞争战略的创业型中小企业可以实现增强的创新。而且，这种创新对中小企业的市场表现有直接、积极的影响，并且这种影响在营销能力较高的情况下更大。我们的研究结果表明，COVID-19 的感知风险对战略与创新关系的影响存在异质性影响。在采用差异化战略的创业型中小企业中，感知风险具有增强作用，而在采用成本策略的创业型中小企业中，感知风险的影响为负值。