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Technological Innovation and Exports: Effects on Firm Growth

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Technological Innovation and International Competitiveness for Business Growth

Abstract

It has been acknowledged that exporting and innovation activities become key performance drivers of firm growth. In this chapter, using dynamic panel data methodology with a sample of 3267 Spanish manufacturing firms over the period 2004–2014, we explore whether the effect of exports and technological innovation on firm growth differs depending on firm size. Previous research has sometimes overlooked the perils of jointly developing both activities for resource-constrained firms, therefore our study contributes to the literature in this field. Furthermore, a wide set of innovation measures is employed and Spain makes it an interesting context. Our results reveal that process innovation increases firm sales growth regardless of firm size, whereas patents prove to have a positive effect only in large firms. In turn, exporting is positively associated with sales growth in SMEs.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    To provide greater robustness to the estimates obtained through GMM, alternative estimates were made using the random effects (RE) estimators, the results obtained were qualitatively similar to those obtained with GMM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business, Universidade da Coruña, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain

    María Jesús Rodríguez-Gulías

  2. Department of Finance and Accounting, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain

    Sara Fernández-López, David Rodeiro-Pazos & Manuel Ángel Nogueira-Moreiras

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  1. María Jesús Rodríguez-Gulías
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  2. Sara Fernández-López
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  3. David Rodeiro-Pazos
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  4. Manuel Ángel Nogueira-Moreiras
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Correspondence to María Jesús Rodríguez-Gulías .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management and Economics & NECE Research Unit in Business Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal

    João J. M. Ferreira

  2. Higher Institute of Administration and Languages, Research Centre—ISAL, Funchal, Portugal

    Sérgio J. Teixeira

  3. NECE—Research Unit in Business Sciences, Funchal, Portugal

    Hussain G. Rammal

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Rodríguez-Gulías, M.J., Fernández-López, S., Rodeiro-Pazos, D., Nogueira-Moreiras, M.Á. (2021). Technological Innovation and Exports: Effects on Firm Growth. In: Ferreira, J.J.M., Teixeira, S.J., Rammal, H.G. (eds) Technological Innovation and International Competitiveness for Business Growth. Palgrave Studies in Democracy, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship for Growth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51995-7_2

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