The Effect of Innovation and R&D Activities on Export Performance: A Perceptual Research on Turkish Firms

The importance of R&D and innovation is increasing for firms day by day. These concepts are not only the key to develop product and/or services and to differentiate products and/or services from competitors but also the determinants of the level of countries in the world economy. Products, imported by countries which attach importance to R&D and innovation activities, have more added value. When considered in micro and macro scale, it is possible to say that countries and firms which export products with added value achieve succesful export performance. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of R&D and innovation activities on export performance. The secondary aim is to invastigate the relationship between R&D and innovation activities. The data of the study were collected by CATI method from 313 exporting firms operating in Turkey. Data analysis reveals that there is a significant and strong relationship between R&D and innovation activities. Another findings shows that R&D and innovation activities have positive effect on export performance. The most important issues on R&D and innovation activities are the budgets allocated by firms for their R&D operations and the support they provide for the culture of learning to gain competitive advantage