Title: The interplay between exports and technological collaborations: effects on SME growth

Authors: María Teresa Bolívar-Ramos; Joan-Lluís Capelleras; Alex Rialp-Criado; Josep Rialp-Criado

Addresses: Departament d'Empresa, Facultat d'Economia i Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain ' Departament d'Empresa, Facultat d'Economia i Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain ' Departament d'Empresa, Facultat d'Economia i Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain ' Departament d'Empresa, Facultat d'Economia i Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

Abstract: This paper focuses on determining the effects of exporting and implementing technological collaborations on the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs that combine both strategies will access to key resources that will allow them to achieve greater growth than SMEs that do not combine them. To explain these relationships, our research distinguishes between explorative and exploitative technological collaborations, as distinct collaborators can affect firm growth differently. Based on an analysis of panel data of Spanish SMEs, our results indicate that SMEs that simultaneously engage in exporting and explorative and/or mainly exploitative technological collaborations achieve higher sales growth rates than SMEs that solely export, solely collaborate, or that do not follow any of these strategies.

Keywords: firm growth; small and medium-sized enterprises; SME; exporting; technological collaboration; exploration; exploitation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2020.112156

International Journal of Technology Management, 2020 Vol.84 No.1/2, pp.110 - 136

Accepted: 24 Aug 2020
Published online: 04 Jan 2021 *

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