Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Their Attitudes towards Internationalization and Innovation

We use 16 case studies of SME to examine a very diverse range of innovation vs internationalization situations. Four synergic scenarios can be discerned, four situations can be identified in which innovation and internationalization either simply occur side by side or are in conflict; and many SMEs go through successive stages in which the balance between internationalization and innovation shifts over time. The companies examined show how internationalization uses mixed (technological and managerial) innovation devices in complex combinations, depending on the type of company, the operational context and their business trajectory.