To network or not to network – Is that really the question? The impact of networking intensity and strategic orientations on innovation success

Innovation success typically leads to company success. That is, firms that successfully create and launch innovations often grow in terms of revenues, profits, and head count. Societies benefit not only from new products and services, but also from new jobs, as created through innovating firms. Thus, innovation success potentially leads to increased societal wealth. However, the question arises: What factors help companies to become successful innovators? Research shows that networking activities between firms and their stakeholders have an important impact on innovation success. This is particularly true for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that often lack crucial resources that enable them to innovate. However, a few existing studies do not support the finding that networking leads to increased innovation outputs. So, we must ask: Under which circumstances do networking activities enable SMEs to become successful innovators? In this study, we analyze a sample of 451 SMEs and, using fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), find that the question is not whether to network or not. Rather, both high- and low-intensity networking firms can use different combinations of underlying strategic orientations and resource-leveraging capabilities to enable innovation success.