Configurations of external SME characteristics to explain differences in innovation performance

Annemien Pullen, Petra de Weerd-Nederhof, Aard Groen, Olaf Fisscher

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Abstract

As SMEs need to focus on core competences for efficiency matters, they need to cooperate with external partners to compensate for other competences and resources. This is especially the case in the field of new product development, where SMEs face specific problems compared to large firms. Recognizing the increasing importance of collaboration, the question remains how to organize these external networks. The research is based in the social systems perspective and systematically builds a research framework for the description and analysis of the organization of new product development in networks from the point of view of the SME. Furthermore the research framework not only elaborates on the individual external SME characteristics as past research did, but it identifies combinations of external firm characteristics that are hypothesized to improve the overall innovation performance. The paper results in the central research question of “how to organize the interaction between actors (organizations) in order to successfully shift from the exploration stage (development) to the exploitation stage (commercialization) to achieve high innovation performance”. In addition several testable hypotheses are constructed from theory.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 16th Annual High Technology Small Firms Conference 2008
Place of PublicationEnschede
PublisherUniversity of Twente
Number of pages19
ISBN (Print)9789036526685
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2008
Event16th Annual High Technology Small Firms Conference, HTSF 2008 - Enschede, Netherlands
Duration: 21 May 200823 May 2008
Conference number: 16

Conference

Conference16th Annual High Technology Small Firms Conference, HTSF 2008
Abbreviated titleHTSF
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityEnschede
Period21/05/0823/05/08

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