Background. The authors raise the issues of identification, evaluation and measurement of the effects brought by innovations particularly in small and medium-sized companies. This article reviews some of the world's studies, particularly on the impact of innovation on widely understood business performance.
Research aims. The study allowed to verify the relationship between the number of innovations and performance at an organizational level.
Method. In order to verify the hypothesis a direct interview was conducted with use of a questionnaire. In the second half of 2011, extensive research was carried out on innova-tion as its broadly understood, on a sample of 250 small and medium-sized enterprises, where only part of it involved issues related to the impact of innovation on business performance. The original research tool consisted of 35 more or less complex questions (both open and closed), and this article presents only a fraction of the obtained results. The respondents in the study were mostly directors, owners or managers at lower-levels of companies.
Key findings. Organization’s key decision-makers are likely to overassess the importance of innovation and its benefits, when the relation between a large number of innovations and organization performance is, in fact, weak or even non-existent.

Background. The authors raise the issues of identification, evaluation and measurement of the effects brought by innovations particularly in small and medium-sized companies. This article reviews some of the world's studies, particularly on the impact of innovation on widely understood business performance.
Research aims. The study allowed to verify the relationship between the number of innovations and performance at an organizational level.
Method. In order to verify the hypothesis a direct interview was conducted with use of a questionnaire. In the second half of 2011, extensive research was carried out on innova-tion as its broadly understood, on a sample of 250 small and medium-sized enterprises, where only part of it involved issues related to the impact of innovation on business performance. The original research tool consisted of 35 more or less complex questions (both open and closed), and this article presents only a fraction of the obtained results. The respondents in the study were mostly directors, owners or managers at lower-levels of companies.
Key findings. Organization’s key decision-makers are likely to overassess the importance of innovation and its benefits, when the relation between a large number of innovations and organization performance is, in fact, weak or even non-existent.