The interplay between exports and technological collaborations: effects on SME growth

Abstract

This paper focuses on determining the effects of exporting and implementing technological collaborations on the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs that combine both strategies will access to key resources that will allow them to achieve greater growth than SMEs that do not combine them. To explain these relationships, our research distinguishes between explorative and exploitative technological collaborations, as distinct collaborators can affect firm growth differently. Based on an analysis of panel data of Spanish SMEs, our results indicate that SMEs that simultaneously engage in exporting and explorative and/or mainly exploitative technological collaborations achieve higher sales growth rates than SMEs that solely export, solely collaborate, or that do not follow any of these strategies.