Title: The impact of networking practices on small firm innovativeness and performance: a multivariate approach

Authors: Vinit Parida, Maria Pemartin, Johan Frishammar

Addresses: Division of Entrepreneurship and Industrial Management, Lulea University of Technology, SE-971 87 Lulea, Sweden. ' Business and Economic Faculty, University of Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain. ' Division of Entrepreneurship and Industrial Management, Lulea University of Technology, SE-971 87 Lulea, Sweden

Abstract: Innovation is a complex process and this is especially true in the context of small firms. Therefore, networking has been suggested as a feasible strategy to achieve innovation. Although networking as such is multidimensional, the current paper focuses on two key aspects – Networking Capability (NC) and network configuration. Our main purpose is to examine how both these variables influence small firm innovativeness and firm performance. Empirically, we draw on data from 291 technology-based small Swedish firms. The results reveal that network configuration positively influences firm innovativeness, whereas NC has a strong positive impact on firm innovativeness and firm performance.

Keywords: networking capability; network configuration; small firms; firm innovativeness; firm performance; innovation; Sweden.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTE.2009.031500

International Journal of Technoentrepreneurship, 2009 Vol.2 No.2, pp.115 - 133

Received: 06 Apr 2009
Accepted: 15 Aug 2009
Published online: 05 Feb 2010 *

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