Positive relationships among collaboration for innovation, past innovation abandonment and future product introduction in manufacturing SMEs
Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: The importance of collaboration for firm level innovation has been well established but much of the research focuses on large firms, with little research on small and medium enterprises. This paper investigates the links between product innovation and external collaboration and between future product innovation and past abandonment in small and medium sized firms, analysing data from 449 manufacturing firms, collected through the Australian Business Longitudinal Database. Our findings indicate firms that sought ideas or solutions from external network such as suppliers, or business partners reported higher level of new product introduction than firms that did not have any external collaboration. Further, firms with past abandonment experiences reported higher levels of new product introduction than firms that did not have such experience. Additionally, the findings indicated that firms with external collaboration were more likely to introduce new products even if they had previously experienced abandonment of a product innovation than firms without external collaboration. Implications, limitations and future research are outlined.
Authors: Sukanlaya Sawang, Judy Matthews
Language: English
Subfield: Strategy and Management
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W135244734