THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNAL KNOWLEDGE GENERATION AND EXTERNAL KNOWLEDGE SOURCING FOR SME INNOVATION AND PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM IRELAND

Justin Doran, McCARTHY Noirin and Marie O’connor
Additional contact information
McCARTHY Noirin: Spatial and Regional Economics Research Centre, Department of Economics, Cork University Business School, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Marie O’connor: Spatial and Regional Economics Research Centre, Department of Economics, Cork University Business School, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Mari O' Connor

International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), 2019, vol. 23, issue 07, 1-30

Abstract: This paper analyses the knowledge sourcing, transformation, and exploitation stages of the innovation value chain for a sample of Irish small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) using Community Innovation Survey data. It explores the role of internal research and development (R&D) and external knowledge on SMEs’ innovation and performance. The open innovation paradigm, which stresses the importance of external linkages, is used to examine the impact of different external knowledge sources on SMEs’ innovation. The consideration of external linkages in the innovation performance of SMEs is crucial as these firms may be constrained in their ability to perform R&D due to their size. The analysis expands the traditional CDM methodology beyond the consideration of research and development as the sole source of knowledge for innovation by also considering a range of potential external knowledge sources. The findings indicate that SMEs generate knowledge internally through the performance of R&D, while also exploiting linkages to external agents. However, the impact of external sources of knowledge is not uniform. The results suggest that backward linkages have a positive impact on SME product innovation, but negatively affect SME process innovation, while public knowledge sources are positively related to the probability of product innovation occurring. This may have important policy implications. Finally, process innovation is also found to be a key determinant of SME productivity, while product innovation has no impact on SME performance.

Keywords: Innovation value chain; external interaction; R&D; SME innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1363919619500695
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:ijimxx:v:23:y:2019:i:07:n:s1363919619500695

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

DOI: 10.1142/S1363919619500695

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim) is currently edited by Joe Tidd

More articles in International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().