LINKING ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION TO KNOWLEDGE’S EXPLOITATION

Abstract

The processes for exploitation of knowledge became an essential element for firms to adapt to changes in the competitive environment. The exploitation of this knowledge should be undertaken with proactivity, innovation and risk-taking. Building on well established theories, our research explores the influence of entrepreneurial orientation in exploitation of knowledge of Portuguese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of footwear associated to the Portuguese Footwear, Components and Leather Goods Association (APICCAPS). Based on survey data from 42 firms, and employing the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique, our empirical results indicate that the entrepreneurial orientation’s dimensions that have a positive and significant influence on knowledge’s exploitation are innovation and risk-taking, and that on the contrary proactiveness has a negative and a not significant influence on it. Classification-JEL: Keywords: entrepreneurial orientation, absorptive capacities, knowledge’s exploitation, SMEs, Portuguese footwear industry, PLS-SEM