Abstract
Prior international business (IB) literature has emphasised on the benefits of outward international activities (export, FDI) for firms’ innovation enhancement from the perspective of multinational corporations. Our study of emerging marketing SMEs shows that it is the inward international activities (i.e., imports, in-licensing and acting as suppliers for foreign customers) which play important role in improving local SMEs’ innovation performance. Conducting cross-country analysis of 7 upcoming Asian emerging economies (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) followed by longitudinal analysis focusing on Vietnam, we provide the evidence that local SMEs can significantly increase their innovation performance simply by staying in their home country and engaging in "more receiving" activities of imports, in-licencing and acting as suppliers for foreign customers. This effect is further amplified if they strategically invest in R&D to develop their absorptive capacity. Additionally, this research makes a methodological contribution by overcoming self-selection bias (i.e., international companies already possess higher innovative capabilities before entering overseas markets) to show the positive impact of export intensity on subsequent new product innovation in the longitudinal analysis
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Published - 6 Jul 2022 |
Event | AIB Annual Meeting 2022 - Miami, United States Duration: 6 Jul 2022 → 9 Jul 2022 |
Conference
Conference | AIB Annual Meeting 2022 |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | Miami |
Period | 6/07/22 → 9/07/22 |