RT Journal Article
T1 Unpacking liabilities of newness and smallness in innovative start-ups: Investigating the differences in innovation performance between new and older small firms
A1 Giménez Fernández, Elena María
A1 Sandulli, Francesco Domenico
A1 Bogers, Marcel
AB New ventures face both liabilities of newness and smallness, which may inhibit their innovation efforts and output. However, existing research has not clearly distinguished between the two liabilities, leaving it unclear how certain determinants differentially affect innovation performance in start-ups relative to older established small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Therefore, in this study we investigate the impact of R&D investments, external knowledge sourcing and public R&D subsidies on innovation effectiveness in new versus older small firms. Employing panel data from the Spanish Community Innovation Survey (CIS), we show that R&D investments have a lower contribution to the innovation performance of new ventures, compared to older small firms. In contrast, we find that external knowledge sourcing makes a higher contribution to the innovation performance of new compared to older small firms, but only in high-tech settings. However, we find no support for a differentiating effect of R&D subsidies in new versus established small firms. Effectively, our results highlight the limited effects of internal R&D investments and R&D policy instruments to promote the growth of innovative start-ups, while highlighting potential benefits of their openness to external sources of innovation. As such, these results have important implications for research, practices and policies that relate to innovation in new ventures and SMEs, while casting doubts on the effectiveness of some of the common strategy and policy instruments to stimulate performance in small innovative start-ups.
PB Elsevier
SN 0048-7333
YR 2020
FD 2020
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/97176
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/97176
LA eng
NO Gimenez-Fernandez, Elena M., Francesco D. Sandulli, y Marcel Bogers. «Unpacking Liabilities of Newness and Smallness in Innovative Start-Ups: Investigating the Differences in Innovation Performance between New and Older Small Firms». Research Policy 49, n.o 10 (diciembre de 2020): 104049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2020.104049.
NO Comunidad de Madrid
NO Novo Nordisk Foundation
DS Docta Complutense
RD 28 abr 2025