We conduct our analysis on a primary data set of 120 SMES in the Cibaduyut footwear-manufacturing cluster, Indonesia.
Almeida & Kogut (1999) found that the development of clusters in the U s. computer industry in the 1980s led to increased innovation and industry rejuvenation.
Research Design and Data Collection We collected the data in 2012 based on an extensive survey in this cluster,
the official database of company addresses is at best incomplete. We combed through every area in Cibaduyut
The resulting data set presents a near complete representation of firms in this cluster. Measures and Validation Innovative performance Innovation is understood traditionally to mean the introduction of new goods, the use of new materials, the development of new methods of production, the opening of new markets,
and components, the development of new software, enhanced user friendliness, and other aspects (OECD, 2005).
We derived multi-item variables using factor analysis, testing for their reliability and validity. We confirmed the reliability of these indicators by computing the Cronbach-alpha coefficient,
2011) indicating that the data are close to normal. We employed a hierarchical regression analysis, with alternative models with and without interaction terms.
120 120 120 120 120 a Standardized coefficients are reported blog-transformed+p<0. 10*p<0. 05**p<0. 01***p<0
Our analysis, based on primary data collected through interviews and questionnaires, provided mixed support for our hypotheses.
First, the data we used, although original and derived from field research, is cross-sectional. This has prevented us from examining the effect of changes over time in firm behavior on innovative performance.
Collecting longitudinal data in the emerging economy context is given particularly challenging the lack of governmental level initiatives to this end.
Discovering Statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics (Vol. Fourth Edition. London: Sage publication. Fontes, M. 2005.
Investigation of clustering impact to SMES'innovation in Indonesia. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on International Business (ICIB), University of Macedonia.
social networks in the surgical instrument cluster of Sialkot-Development and Change-Pakistan. Development and Change, 30 (1), 141-175.
Firm clustering and innovation: Determinants and effects. Papers in Regional Science, 80,337-356. Pérez-Luño, A.,Wiklund, J,
Determinants of innovation capability in small electronics and software firms in southeast England. Research Policy, 31 (7), 1053-1067.
Clustering and Industrialization: Introduction. World Development, 27 (9), 1503-1514. Schoales, J. 2006. Alpha Clusters:
Innovation and Clustering in the Globalised International Economy. Urban Studies, 41 (5/6), 1095-1112.
It will provide a brief overview of the CNIPMMR study pointing out data about Romanian SMES innovation activities and use of information technology in such enterprises.
2010). 2. Data used Data used for this article was collected and compiled by CNIPMMR (Consiliul National al Întreprinderilor Private Mici si Mijlocii din România National Council of Small and Medium Sized Private Enterprises),
the data regarding the nature of innovation activities in SMES show that most innovation efforts are headed (concentrated) towards creation of new products (37,21%)in 2012;
%Romanian SMES efforts on developing new technologies reached 16,45%and modernization of information systems 7, 60%(figure 1). Figure 1:
Own adaptation based on CNIPMMR data (2011-2013) 3. 2 Innovation investments In terms of share of investments allocated to innovation from the total enterprises investments almost half of SMES (44,93
Leceta, 2011) According to Internet World Stats (a Miniwatts Marketing Group initiative) in 2012 (June) there were over 9, 6 million Internet users in Romania,
which means a 44%Internet penetration rate, above the world rate (34,3%)but under the European rate of 63,2%.
and utilize computers (81,94) %and access & use the Internet (80.83%)in their activities. Three quarters of SMES use the electronic mail
and a just over a quarter have their own website, but just 4, 33%are involved in online selling
and buying transactions and under 1 per cent of SMES have intranet. In 15.56%of the SMES have no IT facilities. 3. 6 Use of Internet
and Intranet in SMES The analysis of the purpose why SMES use Internet & Intranet point out that in more than 75%of the companies'information technology is used for a better communication with customers
and suppliers see figure 5). A significant percentage of SMES use the Internet for gathering information about the business environment in
which they operate (67,17%).%Over 50 percentage of SME use the Internet for online transactions,
45,71%use it for promoting their products and services and 39,50%for better communication inside their enterprises. 0. 39 0. 5 4. 33 15.56 27.5 76 80.83 81.94
Others Intranet Selling/shopping online None of the above Own website E-mail Internet Computers 518 Nelu Eugen Popescu/Procedia Economics and Finance 16 (2014) 512
520 Figure 5: Internet & Intranet use in Romanian SMES Source: CNIPMMR, White Charter of Romanian SMES 11th Edition, Sigma Publishing house, 2013 3. 7 Perceived benefits of IT applications in business Top benefits of IT application for their business
processes in the Romanian SMES vision are data security (48,44%),fast access to the enterprise data form anywhere and at anytime (38.21%)and regulatory compliance (35.84%.
%Least important benefits are regarded: better performance through optimized internal business processes (4. 2) %and obtaining detailed reports of departments activities.
9. 42 4. 74 4. 2 2. 31 Data security Access to company data anytime, anywhere Regulatory compliance Ease of team-working Better internal control Removal of redundant data insertion in more Ease of use due to romanian language interface Free and quick solution upgrade
Monthly subscription fee for usage Better performance through internal business Detailed reports of departments activities Nelu Eugen Popescu/Procedia Economics and Finance 16 (2014
At inter-firm level the Internet may help reduce transaction cost and increase speed and reliability of transactions (OECD,
the cost of R&d activities, lack of funds (or insufficient funds) and incertitude about the evolution of demand for new and innovative goods. Most SMES use computers, Internet and the e-mail in their business activities
and some of them even developed own websites (27.50%.%Only in 15.50%of SMES there are no IT structures.
data security, data access from anywhere and at anytime, regulatory compliance, team-working possibilities and better internal control.
the General Secretariat for=Telecommunications and Information Society‘of the MEIS; the General Secretariat for=Industrial and Environmental Development‘of the MEIS;
the leading regional company AT4 Wireless. In addition to Marco Marchese and Jonathan Potter of the OECD LEED Secretariat, the review team consisted of the following experts:
The focus of the current programming period is on soft measures such as capacity building and institution building leading to greater competitiveness, innovation, and employment.
Technology parks are key to SME development in the region At the core of the regional innovation policy are the 11 science and technology parks, alongside the 21 technology centres
whether their=clustering‘has fostered a more collaborative culture of learning and knowledge exchange. While in technology parks there is a relatively high level of collaboration with universities
including agro-food, biotechnology and health sciences, information technology, aeronautics, and renewable energy. This would be a welcome step.
Secondly, through the NOVAPYME programme, RETA has introduced small and peripheral firms to the use of simple ICT solutions (e g. electronic signatures.
Train entrepreneurs for global e-commerce through, for instance, the development of a web localisation certificate programme.
Contribution of research organisations Build (RETA and OTRI) an integrated database of faculty research and consulting skills to match the existing survey of innovation needs of small firms.
Review panel visit The OECD Secretariat led an international panel of experts in a one-week peer review visit in Andalusia from 12 to 16 april 2010.
drawing on the results of the diagnostic report, the panel review exercise, and additional literature and material about the Andalusia economy.
OECD Regional Database The socioeconomic context Andalusia is the southernmost region of peninsular Spain and has lagged traditionally behind the rest of the country by most economic variables.
ESECA, 2009 peripheral economies which generally find it difficult to penetrate international markets. Indeed only 1. 4%of regional firms are engaged in foreign trade,
with a turnover of EUR 4. 6 million and a workforce of 34 000 people in 2007 prior to the crisis. Telecommunications is the biggest subsector,
because a long career path brings broader social networks and effectiveness in building new ties (Mosey & Wright 2007).
An important and effective regional programme to upgrade local talent is Talentia, by which the regional government offers young college graduates financial support for their graduate work at top international universities,
such as information technology, that will increase their innovativeness. 6. The two biggest unions in Andalusia (UGT
EVA was an online site that intended to implement advanced and innovative training programs for the changing needs of SMES and government officials through two courses.
provided training in information technologies to SMES that were part of a relevant cluster in Andalusia. The strategy was based on a CITIC study of the IT needs of SMES in seven productive sectors linked to Andalusian technology centers (stone, ceramic, wood/furniture, textile, plastic, metal-mechanic,
The main IT solutions offered were antivirus (to 29%of clients), business management software (to 28%)and web and email (to 19%.
teaching its firms how to use electronic signatures and anti-virus software rather than, for instance, how to develop e-commerce capabilities.
and would benefit from the development of a web localization certificate program by an organisation with expertise in global e-commerce.
id=17007 Web localization certificate programmes: Training entrepreneurs for global e-commerce Although entrepreneurship programs have offered training in e-commerce for many years,
experience with global markets has shown that many websites are not appropriate to attract consumers in foreign markets.
Localizing websites, i e.,, customizing them for local cultures, will improve comprehension, navigation, site visit duration, and most importantly, purchasing (Singh and Pereira, 2005).
The localization industry in 2006, a USD 9 billion business helps businesses design multilingual websites that work in different national contexts.
localization, and global ecommerce more generally, seems like a natural fit for Andalusia, given three factors:
and the lack of web and IT expertise among traditional businesses. Curious about the region, online visitors could be attracted to visit websites about local culture and products.
At present, the region is served by two regional touristic websites, both of which do not reflect the state-of-the-art of web design and functionalities.
Given its experience offering IT training, as well as its past role in the Digital Cluster program, RETA might be able to play a role in launching such training.
The region has some resources to build upon such as the Andalusia Lab, a technology center for touristic innovation,
which already offers an ecommerce course to businesses. One possible partner would be given FUNDACION EMPRENDE
/Austin Community college, http://www. austincc. edu/techcert/localization. php; California State university-Chico, http://rce. csuchico. edu/localize References Aoyama, Y. and M. Castells. 2002.
Available at http://www. centrodeestudiosandaluces. es/index. php? mod=publicaciones&cat=18&id=2526&id a=0&idm=Chapple, K. 2005.
Workforce Development and Upward Mobility in Information technology. Monograph 2005-01. Institute of Urban and Regional Development, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA. Chapple, K. & Hutson, M. 2010.
Attitudes to innovation in peripheral economic regions. Research Policy, 37,6-7: 1009-1021. Cuadrado-Roura, J. R. & Garcia-Tabuenca, A. Innovative and Creative Entrepreneurship in Spain.
Available at http://www. juntadeandalucia. es/compromisos20082012/principal noticia. php? id noticia=327 Katz, L. and K. Murphy. 2002.
Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data, 3rd edition. Paris: OECD. Available at www. oecd. org/sti/oslomanual Osterman, P. 1999.
and in linking them with global ones. The impact of the university can extend beyond the provision of basic research but,
Prime examples of industrial sectors that rely upon this type of knowledge base are found in information technology and biotechnology.
The most recent and current programming period for Cohesion Policy is 2007-2013. This period has been marked by two major
which covers the core actors in the innovation sector in Andalusia. The PAIDI is an operational plan that elaborates on the specific institutional agents to implement the broader goals of the PIMA.
which now designate research teams as a core element in the internal structure of the universities (Ramos-Vielba and Fernandez-Esquinas, 2009).
Only a small part of these relationships is captured in the formal data gathered by the university technology transfer offices.
They also note that policymakers who rely on the formal data collected by university technology transfer offices are privy to at best the=tip of the iceberg‘in terms of the true dimensions of university-industry collaboration that exist (Ramos-Vielba et al.
Create a database of faculty's skills and match it with the innovative needs of local firms The detailed surveys of both university research teams and innovative firms conducted by the team at IESA-CSIC reveal that there are already a substantial number of university researchers
One mechanism to accomplish this might take the form of creating an integrated database of faculty research
The IESA-CSIC surveys might even provide the preliminary basis for constructing such a database
Once they have begun to use the database to link researchers up with firms in need of their expertise
and social networks among private firms and university researchers that are viewed as a central component of third generation innovation models.
as RETA could use the process of building both the database of expert skills in the universities
and the creation of a focused cooperative education program with some of the universities and innovative companies as a means to strengthen the social networks between firms and universities.
as well as global ones, have deep and enduring links with the coop program. Mike Lazaridis the co-CEO of Research in motion, is an active and vocal proponent of technology transfer through the Waterloo co-op program.
At Sybase, an enterprise software company that spun-off from the original WATCOM Corporation, with over 250 employees in its Waterloo campus alone,
and make use of innovations in the relatively new field of computing science in the 1960s
and as a result, local firms have to compete with global ones to attract the best students,
For instance, in a recent speech at the university during his Microsoft 2005 Tour, Bill gates referred to Waterloo as a special relationship for us.
as well as serving to enhance the region‘s international reputation by attracting global firms, such as Microsoft and Google,
which RETA faces in terms of the need to intensify the social networks and linkages between innovative firms in the region and the existing technology parks without the option of physical co-location.
the increasing use of telecommunications technology and the creation of denser social networks through intermediary agents,
In Global networks and Local Linkages: The Paradox of Cluster Development in an Open Economy, eds David A. Wolfe and Matthew Lucas. Montreal and Kingston:
Estadisticas de Sociedades Mercantiles, INE Andalusia‘s entrepreneurship level was assessed by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) in 2006.
The people, assets and intangibles transferred from the parent company constitute a key element of the spin-off‘s core-business,
as shown by AT4-Wireless and other innovative firms. Curiously, for a region which has an extensive range of policies and tools to support entrepreneurship,
Such funding initially prioritised infrastructure but the current programming period focuses on softer aspects such as institutions, capacities, know-how, etc.
The next EU programming period will certainly result in a transition to lower levels of structural funds;
This massive amount of support is actually a reduction compared with the preceding programming period,
Based on the 2006 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data, the density of enterprises was approaching the national level.
The strategy of the programme was guided by a private sector-led Entrepreneurship Implementation Panel; the operational part of the project was managed by a special enterprise team established within the Welsh Development Agency.
as shown by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for Wales, include a noticeable change in the attitudes of the people in Wales towards entrepreneurship and a public sector that increasingly and explicitly supports entrepreneurship across its activities.
especially in view of the need to transit to the next programming phase where the region is likely to benefit from a reduced level of EU Structural Funds.
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2006) Andalusia. OECD (2001) Fostering Entrepreneurship, OECD, Paris. OECD (2003) Entrepreneurship and Local Economic Development:
a further policy concern relates to increasing more basic levels of innovation (e g. use of information technology in routine business activities) within the mass of more traditional SMES.
To what extent is a policy for increasing higher levels of innovation, particularly R&d activities, among a core of SMES,
the most recent data available indicate that the larger firm sectors, including medium sized firms,
accounting for around 35 percent of total exports according to the most recent data, 19 percent of this total represented by unprocessed agricultural products and 16 percent from processed food and drink products (Junta de Andalucía, 2007).
but many of which are involved primarily in local and national markets in sectors such as biotechnology, aeronautics, information technology and communications.
and RETA whose aim is to support the existing small core of high tech SMES and encourage the second tier of SMES to increase their levels of R&d activity.
At the core of the broader innovation policy are the 11 science and technology parks discussed elsewhere in this report,
RETA expresses the more widely held belief that clustering of high technology firms, described as Andalusia‘s=closeness‘model is the most effective means of offering support to fast growing and technology dynamic SMES.
in favour of backing the in vogue=high tech sectors‘might be in danger of missing opportunities based on the region‘s existing strengths a wider problem of the thrust of the region‘s innovation policy.
whether their=clustering‘has fostered a more collaborative culture of learning and knowledge exchange. A recent study that explored the type
including agro-food, biotechnology and health sciences, information technology, aeronauticals, renewable energy. However, there is a sense of unrealistic expectations of providing=world class‘innovators in fashionable high-tech sectors rather than recognising existing regional strengths, some
For example, the policy of encouraging clustering of SMES in technology parks and industrial estates is informed by recent research that highlights the importance of encouraging proximity between firms in the pursuit of innovation.
encouraging the physical clustering and co-presence of firms (as we have shown) is not in itself,
and knowledge now available with internet communications to meet their specific needs. Typically the smaller SMES will identify innovation needs based on resolving day-to-day problems.
The core of the model was to develop competitive advantage through strengthening existing local assets
Email: Sonninor@cardiff. ac. uk Professor Gianluca Brunori, Department of Agronomy and Management of the Agro-ecosystem, Group of Agricultural and Environmental Economics, University of Pisa, Via del
Email: gbrunori@agr. unipi. it Danish low-tech clusters and the‘village economy'Description of the approach Confounding conventional analyses of globalisation, Denmark, with few natural resources and high production costs by international
Of these organisations, around 200 can be considered to be=core‘life science firms involved in developing products
The academic community is part of a much broader global network of scientific knowledge and has been an important contributor to key global breakthroughs in a diverse range of medical fields, most famously in the genetics area.
With smaller resources in the future, investment in high tech activities should be directed at the most promising sectors that already display some international capability, rather than spreading resources too thinly.
In this respect, RETA could play an important role by building up together with OTRI a faculty skills database that could be matched with the existing dataset of=innovative needs‘of Andalusia firms.
the underlying rationale being that clustering of technology-intensive firms enhances their growth and expansion.
whether=clustering‘has fostered a more collaborative culture of learning and knowledge exchange. Indeed few firms appear to develop collaborations with other firms co-located in the same park.
including agro-food, biotechnology and health sciences, information technology, aeronautics, and renewable energy. However, there is a sense of unrealistic expectations of providing=world class‘innovators in fashionable sectors rather than recognising existing regional strengths, some
The NOVAPYME programme run by RETA has introduced small and peripheral firms to the use of simple ICT solutions (e g. electronic signature.
and could indeed be matched with another database collecting the skills of university faculty members so as to ease knowledge transfer between HEIS and firms, including of small size.
Key future opportunities Developing entrepreneurship skills to upgrade local industries Universities are being geared up to be conduits for knowledge and innovation in the new economy but as the OECD study reports, inappropriate
and sectoral mix of cluster strategies Business clustering has brought significant advantages for smaller firms especially because of knowledge spillovers from one firm to another or from institutions to firms.
A more rewarding strategy would be to focus public funding around the most promising and strategic sectors such as agro-food, biotechnology and health sciences, information technology, aeronautics,
Train entrepreneurs for global e-commerce through, for instance, the development of a web localisation certificate programme.
Contribution of research organisations Build (RETA and OTRI) an integrated database of faculty research and consulting skills to match the existing survey of innovation needs of small firms.
3. Absorptive Capability and Organizational Learning Theory 27 4. Social network in Organizational Contexts 32 5. Entrepreneurial Orientation 35 6. Innovativeness 39 VIII
a contingency approach 49 3. Research Design 51 3. 1. Sample and data collection 51 3. 2. Techniques for controlling Common Method Biases 54
direct and indirect causal effects 75 2. 4. Size as a moderator term 79 3. Research Design 81 3. 1. Sample and data collection
from export activities toward innovativeness 99 3. Research Design 100 3. 1. Database 100 3. 2. Variables 102 4. Analysis and Results 106
a brief of main studies 30 Table 5. Social network in CE: key reasons 34 Table 6. Entrepreneurial Orientation what we need to know to understand the concept 37 Table 7. Industrial classification of samples selected
I would also like to thank Dr. Yancy Vaillant for his contribution with the GEM database.
Theoretical Framework Resource-based view Contingency Theory Resource-based view Social network Theory Resource-based view Absorptive capability and Learning Theory Research
from GEM database Ordinal regression and Logit regressions Key findings There is a positive effect of EO on SME profitability;
Self-elaborated 32 4. Social network in Organizational Contexts Approximately 30 years ago, an important new area of research within the organizational context emerged.
The starting point of the study of social networks was drawn on a broader revitalization of the field of economic sociology (Hoang and Antoncic, 2003.
The entrepreneur is embedded in a social network that plays a critical role in the entrepreneurial process (Aldrich and Zimmer, 1986.
In this sense, Brass (1992) defines social networks as a set of actors (individuals or organizations) and a set of linkages between them.
Social network research in organizational contexts highlights topics such as social capital, embeddedness, organizational networks, board interlocks, joint ventures and inter-firm alliances (see Borgatti and Foster, 2003;
) Consistent with the arguments provided by network research in organizational contexts we can state that the field of organizational behavior moves away from an exclusive focus on individuals to consider people in organizations in terms of their embeddedness in social networks.
Table 5 shows ten key reasons (arranged chronologically) why it is important to consider the social network from the corporate entrepreneurship perspective.
Table 5. Social network in CE: key reasons Main idea Study 1 The presence of colleagues/partners in the entrepreneurs'personal networks is strongly related to all performance measures.
Hoang and Antoncic (2003 p. 166) 35 Table 5. Continued Main idea Study 7 A focus on the social networks of organization leaders is likely to enhance our understanding of organizational behavior.
Kilduff and Brass (2010 p. 309) 10 Social networks are influential in explaining the processes of knowledge creation, diffusion, absorption, and use.
) Despite two different approaches to a single concept (in the same dissertation), the core of the measure in both own-designed questionnaire and GEM survey is the same.
entrepreneurship is defined as entrepreneurial philosophy that permeates an entire organization's outlook and operations, and it refers to the firm's actions per se (Chow, 2006).
Thus, the core focus of H2 is illustrated in Figure 1. So, the aforementioned theoretical arguments provide reasonable justification for advancing the following hypotheses:
impact on firm profitability 3. Research Design 3. 1. Sample and data collection The companies included in this study were selected based upon three criteria:
The data were collected in two distinct stages. First, we used a questionnaire adapted from the model used in different studies (e g.
the use of personal information collected with the same level of authority within each organization reduces the variability of the data (Nasrallah and Qawasmeh, 2009.
because some companies did not report their e-mail, phone or website to contact. Of these 703 questionnaires
Firms that did not respond to the initial request for data were contacted a second time via telephone one month after the initial contact,
which complete data were available on accounting information in the investigated years. The survey was carried out in the winter of 2009.
The second step of data collection was performed through companies'publications and annual reports to make annual updates to the database of firms
which answered the questionnaire. The financial-statement data are obtained from the SABI of 2007-2009. Finally, to ensure the absence of bias in the data,
we have evaluated the bias of nonresponse (a sample of 121 firms which did not respond to the questionnaire,
has been compared with reference to the ROA and number of employees. The results revealed no significant differences between the two groups.
, p>.10) in 3 Iberian System Analysis of Balance (SABI) is an online database with detailed financial information about Spanish and Portuguese companies. 54 terms of age, number of employees,
a single factor will emerge from the factor analysis or the majority of the covariance will be concentrated in one of the factors (Podsakoff et al.,
We applied the exploratory factor analysis to assess dimensionality and validity. Statisticians KMO of 0. 94 and Bartlett's sphericity test (p<.01) support the idea of the validity of the implementation of factorial analysis and allow us to check
we carried out a confirmatory factor analysis highlighting the existence of a multidimensional construct (see the path diagram for this construct as well as,
The resource-based view (RBV) emphasizes the role of core competences of firms and suggests that the best way to understand a firm,
Aldrich and Zimmer (1986) pointed out that the entrepreneur is embedded in a social network that plays an important role in the entrepreneurial process.
) Social networks can be defined as a set of actors (individuals or organizations) and a set of linkages between these actors (Brass, 1992;
the potential synergy between firms and their social networks can generate capabilities in learning that play an important role in creating
Members of social networks can directly influence the propensity to assume greater or lesser risk activities. 72 In addition, Ripollés and Blesa (2005;
2006) found a direct causal contribution of the entrepreneur's contact frequency with members of his/her families or social networks into a firm's entrepreneurial behavior.
and few studies have used longitudinal data to analyze the phenomenon. Concerning the EO-firm growth relationship,
Zahra and Covin (1995) collected data from three different samples over a seven-year period to assess the longitudinal impact of EO on growth revenue.
For example, Wiklund (1999), using data from Swedish small firms, has shown that there is a positive relationship between EO and performance (reflecting growth and financial performance),
Using data from Norway, Madsen (2007) also concluded that the sustained and increased EO level was associated positively with high performance (employment growth
Yamada and Eshima (2009), using longitudinal (two years) data from 300 small technology-based Japanese firms,
For example, Birley (1985) found that social networks provide the main sources of help in assembling the resources needed;
social networks, cooperative networks, marketing information networks, reputation networks, and cooperative technology networks that, according to Lechner and Dowling (2003), enable growth in different stages of firm development.
Thus, the core focus from H3 to H5b is illustrated in Figure 2. Figure 2. Proposed model and relationships between firm networks, EO and growth 2. 4. Size as a moderator term
data collection, control of response bias and common method biases are repeated. 3. 1. Sample and data collection To test the relationship between EO, network resource and firm growth,
data were collected from a sample of SME Spanish firms. Survey All companies included in this study
which develop manufacturing activities can be classified as SMES, and have been active and are in the business for at least the last five years.
The data were collected in two distinct stages. First, we applied a questionnaire which has been adapted and designed to collect the necessary information,
the use of personal information collected with the same level of authority within each organization reduces the variability of the data (Nasrallah and Qawasmeh,
because some companies did not report their e-mail, phone or website to contact. Of these 703 questionnaires, 51 were returned incomplete for the following reasons:
Firms that did not respond to the initial request for data were contacted a second time via telephone one month after the initial contact,
which had available data in the investigated years. The survey was carried out in the winter of 2009.
The second step of data collection was performed through companies'publications and annual reports to make annual updates to the database of firms
which answered the questionnaire. The financial statement data are obtained from the SABI 2007-2009 database. To ensure the absence of bias in the data,
we have evaluated the bias of non-response (a sample of 121 firms, which have not responded to the questionnaire,
was compared with reference to the ROA and number of employees). The results revealed no significant difference between the two groups.
We applied the exploratory factor analysis to assess dimensionality and validity. Statisticians KMO of 0. 94 and Bartlett's sphericity test (p<0. 01) support the idea of the validity of the implementation of factorial analysis and allow us to check
we carried out a confirmatory factor analysis highlighting the existence of a multidimensional construct (see the path diagram for this construct,
we carried out an exploratory factor analysis to verify whether we could treat the information as a single construct.
SEM can be understood as a combination of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multiple regression (Schreiber et al. 2006).
A structural model displays the interrelations among latent constructs and observable variables in the proposed model as a succession of structural equations.
The Chi-square statistic measures the distance between the original data matrix and the matrix estimated by the model,
Moreover, GFI (0. 869) and the adjusted GFI (0. 818) explain how well our data fit to the proposed theoretical model.
the first objective using these SME data was to reply whether network usage affects the EO development in these Spanish firms or not.
For public policy-makers, the findings indicate that the social network approach, as well as entrepreneurial spirit in companies'environments, can be valuable to society as a whole
and describes the main data sources; Section 4 presents the estimation results, and Section 5 provides discussion about it
For example, Caldera (2010), using a compiled data from the Encuesta sobre Estrategias Empresariales (ESEE) Spain,
In turn, using Spanish manufacturing data, López Rodríguez and García Rodríguez (2005), stated that product innovations,
Export propensity affects positively the firm's innovativeness. 3. Research design 3. 1. Database The sample used in this essay was taken from the Spanish Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) by considering the adult population survey for the years 2007
and it provides the required fundamental knowledge by assembling relevant harmonized data on an annual basis (See Reynolds et al.,
2005). 101 This database contains various entrepreneurial measures that are constructed on a survey basis. In our research,
Considering the available information in the GEM database, we used it in two different steps:
by using data from two years, we have provided some evidence from cross-sectional analyzes of 2007 and 2008.
and logit regression models do not represent problems of multi-collinearity. In fact the correlation between innovation in products or services and technological innovation was expected,
Table 21 displays the results of the logistic regression. The Chi-square test of both the i. prod/serv and proc. innov complete models was significant
Table 21 displays the odds ratio, the significance at the corresponding level, and the standard deviation.
and strategy management by investigating the impact of a firm's resources and capabilities such as EO, social networks and innovativeness on its performance.
our findings indicate that the social network approach, as well as entrepreneurial spirit in SMES, can be valuable to society as a whole
-Reinforces the social network and the entrepreneurial spirit of the SMES to obtain potential growth, thus generating wealth and employment;
Future research could examine using panel data for the prediction that a firm's innovativeness enhances its probability of exporting
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