IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aeq/aeqaeq/v59_y2008_is_q5_p173-212.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Globalisation of Innovation in SMEs: Why They Go Abroad and What They Bring Back Home

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Rammer
  • Anja Schmiele

Abstract

This paper investigates the drivers and the effects of the internationalisation of innovation activities in SMEs based on a large data set of German firms. We look at different stages of the innovation process (R&D, design, production and sales of new products, and implementation of new processes) and explore the role of internal resources, home market competition and innovation-related location advantages for an SME’s decision to engage in innovation activities abroad. By linking international innovation activities to firm growth in the home market we try to identify likely internationalisation effects at the firm level. The results show that export experience and experience in knowledge protection are highly important for international innovation activities of SMEs. High innovation costs at home stimulate internationalisation of non-R&D innovation activities, and shortage of qualified labour expels production of new products. R&D activities abroad and exports of new products spur firm growth in the home market.COMMENT: Axel Mangelsdorf

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Rammer & Anja Schmiele, 2008. "Globalisation of Innovation in SMEs: Why They Go Abroad and What They Bring Back Home," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 59(Supplemen), pages 173-212.
    • Handle: RePEc:aeq:aeqaeq:v59_y2008_is_q5_p173-212
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Febi Jensen & Dorothea Schäfer & Andreas Stephan, 2019. "Financial Constraints of Firms with Environmental Innovation," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 88(3), pages 43-65.
    2. Andrea Coveri & Antonello Zanfei, 2023. "Who wins the race for knowledge-based competitiveness? Comparing European and North American FDI patterns," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 292-330, February.
    3. Rammer, Christian & Bethmann, Nicola, 2009. "Schwerpunktbericht zur Innovationserhebung 2008: Innovationspartnerschaften - Schutz und Verletzung von intellektuellem Eigentum," ZEW Dokumentationen 09-01, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Stephen Oduro, 2019. "Impact of Innovation Types on SMEs’ Performance in the Cape Coast Metropolis of Ghana," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 5(2), pages 110-127, July.
    5. Abdulaziz M. Abdulsaleh, 2016. "Factors Affecting Libyan SMEs’ Selection of Banks as Business Partners," Quarterly Journal of Business Studies, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 2(4), pages 201-210.
    6. Stefano Bresciani & Alberto Ferraris & Manlio Del Giudice, 2016. "R&D internationalization in asian developing countries: evidence from european multinationals," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(3), pages 25-44.
    7. Spyros Arvanitis & Heinz Hollenstein, 2010. "How Do Different Motives for R&D Investment in Foreign Locations Affect Domestic Firm Performance? An Analysis Based on Swiss Panel Micro Data," WIFO Working Papers 375, WIFO.
    8. Dachs, Bernhard, 2017. "Internationalisation of R&D: A Review of Drivers, Impacts, and new Lines of Research," MPRA Paper 83367, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Spyros Arvanitis & Heinz Hollenstein, 2010. "How Do Different Motives for R&D Investment in Foreign Locations Affect Domestic Firm Performance?," KOF Working papers 10-258, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.
    10. Martin Berger & Heinz Hollenstein, 2012. "Determinants of equity-based and co-operative foreign R&D and impact on the parent firm's performance," KOF Working papers 12-305, KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Internationalisation of Innovation; Globalisation; SMEs; Effects of Innovation; Absorptive Capacities; Market Structure.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aeq:aeqaeq:v59_y2008_is_q5_p173-212. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Deborah Anne Bowen (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.duncker-humblot.de .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.