Collaborations in innovation activities of rural SMEs: a configurational analysis

Abstract

Collaboration and innovation are closely linked in innovation ecosystems (IEs). Yet management research that adopts the IE approach has paid little attention to the combinations of collaborations that foster innovation among rural SMEs. We therefore seek to determine what configurations of collaborations between rural SMEs and actors in their IE most enhance their innovationperformance. The study uses fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to explore this question in 64 rural SMEs in Canada. The results confirm that at least one collaboration configuration between SMEs and customers and suppliers is needed to enhance SMEs’ innovation performance. Financial institutions (FIs) are present in configurations where collaborations with education and research institutions (ERIs) are absent. Collaborations with economic development organizations seem less effectual. The main contribution is to expand the current analysis on collaboration configurations in IE to SMEs in rural contexts by using a configurational analysis. The specific contributions are: 1) Balanced collaboration of rural SMEs with their IE actors, stimulates the innovation performance, 2) substitutability and complementarity between horizontal and vertical collaborations facilitate this performance, 3) the conjunction of collaborations with ERIs and FIs can be problematic. Actors of innovation support in rural areas can strengthen their strategies by considering the findings.