Collaboration among Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises as Part of Internationalization: A Systematic Review

This article performs a systematic review of the research literature on the forms of collaboration among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) so that they reach the foreign market, since there is a lack of research focusing on the collaborative relationship between national companies as a strategic option for accessing the foreign market. In addition, we analyzed the articles to conceptually synthesized the elements that make up the business models of these collaborative forms of operating in the foreign market. Likewise, we analyzed real cases of collaborative processes among SMEs for the foreign market and highlight the contributions of governments in promoting actions to support these collaborations. We also show some directions for future research that were pointed out by the articles.

Innovation in the main Brazilian business sectors: characteristics, types and comparison of innovation

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the innovation process of organizations representing the main sectors of Brazilian economic activity.

Design/methodology/approach

The literature review focuses on analyzing the innovation process characteristics regarding the innovation types. The authors carried out interviews with executives and managers in charge of innovation at the leading large companies in the respective sectors analyzed. The data analysis of this qualitative research was structured in three steps. The first step is the analysis of data collected for encoding, the second step, the summarization of the common points presented by the companies in each sector and, finally, the interpretation of these data, aided by triangulation from secondary data that support the analysis of the collected primary data.

Findings

The main contribution of this study is to characterize the innovation process of organizations representing the main sectors of the Brazilian economy, with a classification regarding the sectoral innovation standard.

Practical implications

The authors’ intent is that the paper can contribute with a comparative analysis among companies of the same sector and, subsequently, among companies of the different surveyed sectors. Thus, the characterization aims to present the companies’ innovation process and the comparative analysis aims to verify the innovation sectoral patterns. In addition, as implications for management practice, some strategies for better knowledge management in the organization are suggested for each type of innovation.

Originality/value

The main theoretical contribution focuses on the development of a conceptual model that structures the analyzed variables of the constructs “innovation process” and “innovation sectoral patterns”, allowing not only the characterization but also the comparative analysis of the representative organizations present in the sample.

Managerial networks and strategic orientation in SMEs

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to igvestigate how strategic orientation influences managerial networks in Indian SMEs and the role competitive intensity as a moderator.

Design/methodology/approach

– Structured pre-tested questionnaire was employed to gather information from 147 top managers from Indian SMEs. Statically models were used for internal and external validation, hypothesis testing and data analysis.

Findings

– The study results support the positive significant influence of strategic orientation including market orientation (customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-functional orientation), technology orientation and entrepreneurship orientation on managerial network (business and political networks) building in Indian SMEs.

Originality/value

– This study is one of the few studies on the subject line in Indian context, and among the first few studies in the Indian SME sector.