تاثیر وابستگی فرصت به نوآوری در روابط خارجی بازار SME  The impact of opportunity connectedness on innovation in SMEs’ foreign-market relationships

1. Introduction Over the past decade, the focus on firms’ abilities to innovate has again become a key focal point owing to the rapid rate of technological change, shortened product life cycles, and the globalization of markets. Even though the bulk of private research and development (R&D) spending still comes from a small number of very large firms, disruptive breakthroughs often emanate from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (Baumol, 2004). In light of these developments, the current discourse regarding the requisites for SME innovation is vigorous, and Technovation is a particularly important forum for this debate (e. g., Radas and Božić, 2009; Radas et al., 2015; Tolstoy and Agndal, 2010; Uyarra et al., 2014; van de Vrande et al., 2009; Zeng et al., 2010). In this article, we investigate how access to opportunities in networks can enable SMEs to innovate in foreign markets. A wide array of previous studies have highlighted that networks facilitate international expansion and new business new business creation of SMEs (Coviello, 2006; Crick and Spence, 2005; Freeman et al., 2006; Lindstrand et al., 2011; Rovira Nordman and Melén, 2008; Sullivan Mort and Weerawardena, 2006; Zhou et al., 2007). There also are numerous studies dedicated to identifying different prerequisites of innovation in SMEs from both a developed country context (e. g. Löfgren, 2014; van de Vrande et al., 2009) and an emerging country context (e. g. Ren et al., 2015; Zeng et al., 2010). By performing this study, we build on this line of research and contribute with novel insights about how opportunities drawn from distinct networks (i. e. host-market networks, home-market networks, and international networks) influence innovation in specific foreign market settings. The specific purpose of this study is to investigate how networks, depending on their location, contextualize innovation in particular foreign market business relationships. By following this approach, distinguishing and comparing effects between different distinct networks, we can contribute to research in the international small-business domain that seeks to identify important prerequisites of SME innovation. The study is, furthermore, practically relevant as is sheds light on the strategic impact of different regional support systems which could be useful when taking localization issues into account in the development of SMEs’ innovation programs. Networks are becoming increasingly important for firms, especially those that undertake innovative activities (Hagedoorn et al., 2000; Zeng et al., 2010). Networks are also particularly central for SMEs, which often lack tangible which often lack tangible resources (e. g., financial and human-capital resources) and, therefore, rely heavily on intangible resources that are accessed and employed outside the boundaries of the firm (Knight and Kim, 2009; Rovira Nordman and Melén, 2008; van de Vrande et al., 2009; Zeng et al., 2010; Zhou et al., 2007).