Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/25613 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
Jena Economic Research Papers No. 2007,042
Publisher: 
Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena
Abstract: 
This paper analyses the effects of innovation networks on product and pro-cess innovation and sales growth of high technology SMEs. Innovation net-works are positively related to both product and process innovation, i.e. know-ledge creation. One exception is the negative effect of innovation networks with suppliers on product innovation. Older SMEs are more product innovative than young SMEs. The positive relation between firm size and (process) inno-vation, disappears when networks are introduced into the analyses. The general conclusion is that vertical innovation networks remove the effect of firm size on process innovation. In other words, high-tech SMEs can ‘borrow’ size if they co-operate with customers, but especially with suppliers for pro-cess innovation. So smallness is not necessarily a disadvantage for inno-vation, as long as firms cooperate with other organisations. Innovation and networks do not seem to effect value creation, measured as sales growth.
Subjects: 
innovation
innovation networks
high tech SMEs
firm growth
JEL: 
D21
D83
D85
L25
O31
O32
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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