Internationalization moderating the relationship between investment and innovation in small businesses in Latin America

• Autor(a) principal: Santos, Anderson Freitas dos
• Data de Publicação: 2024
• Outros Autores: Costa, Priscila Rezende da, Arantes, Camila Naves, Pires, Adriana de Castro, Cirani, Claudia Brito Silva
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista de Empreendedorismo e Gestão de Pequenas Empresas - REGEPE
• Texto Completo: https://www.regepe.org.br/regepe/article/view/2407
• topic: Internationalization efforts; R&D investment; Innovation outputs; Small Business; Esfuerzos de internacionalización; Inversión en I D; Resultados de innovación; Pequeñas empresas; Esforços de internacionalização; Investimento em P&D; Resultados de inovação; Pequenas empresas

Objective: This paper's main objective was to examine the extent to which internationalization efforts moderate the relationship between investments in research and development (R&D) and innovation outputs taken by small businesses, that is, small and medium-sized enterprises - SMEs. Methodology: The methodology used consisted of quantitative research with data from 10,621 SMEs, from 17 countries in Latin America. The present study involved factorial and regressive analysis as well. Main results: The results obtained led to the conclusion that internationalization efforts have a positive and statistically significant influence on innovation outputs, allowing SMEs in Latin American countries to increase their competitiveness through constructing or improving products, services, or processes. Theoretical contributions: At the end of the research, it was also concluded that R&D investments positively influence innovation outputs and that companies that invest in R&D and additionally employ internationalization efforts are more likely to present innovation. Relevance and originality: It was the first time that a study jointly and empirically evaluated the moderating effect of internationalization efforts on the relationship between investments in R&D and innovation outputs, totaling a sample of 10,621 SMEs. Managerial and social contributions: This study also contributed to the knowledge of Latin America, therefore, it is expected that a greater understanding of the barriers to the development of SMEs will be achieved, through the advancement of internationalization efforts, investment in R&D and innovation. In this way, the aim is to encourage academics and practitioners to search for solutions to break these barriers.