Networking and innovation in SMEs: evidence from Guangdong Province, China
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development
ISSN: 1462-6004
Article publication date: 24 October 2008
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate structural characteristics of a business network comprising small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), and to explore the relationships between such network characteristics and innovative capabilities of the participating firms.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts a survey approach and conducts empirical analysis by drawing data from 92 firms operating in the packaging and printing industry in Shantou City, Guangdong Province.
Findings
In relation to the participating firms' innovative capabilities, density, reciprocity and multiplicity of the business network are figured out as factors with positive association, while hypotheses concerning intensity, non‐redundancy and betweenness of the network are not supported.
Research limitations/implications
The authors only conducted a survey in a single industry in one location. Thus the extent to which the results of this study can be generalized remains to be further investigated.
Practical implications
Small and medium‐sized enterprises can enhance their innovative capability by understanding and leveraging the structure of the business network in which they participate.
Originality/value
This paper sheds additional insights to the relationship between a business network and firms' innovative capabilities in a Chinese context.
Keywords
Citation
Xu, Z., Lin, J. and Lin, D. (2008), "Networking and innovation in SMEs: evidence from Guangdong Province, China", Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 788-801. https://doi.org/10.1108/14626000810917861
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited