Innovation: crucial factor for the internationalization of SMEs

Abstract

Market globalization has brought profound changes in the way in which relations between people, companies and countries are established. Particularly for companies, these changes have manifested in an increase in international operations, which on one hand press local micro, small and medium firms (SMEs) to improve their products and processes, so that they do not be displaced by foreign companies, but on the other, this new environment offers them opportunities to access foreign markets.There are several approaches to understand the elements that influence the internationalization of firms; some of them are based on the input directly to the foreign market. In the case of SMEs, additionally, it has been proposed as a mechanism of internationalization, their direct participation in global value chains (GVC). One of the ways for consolidate the participation of SMEs in GVCs is through innovation.The purpose of this article is to present a model based on innovation, which summarizes the ideas of several authors as a factor explaining the internationalization of SMEs, particularly in the sectors of metalworking and information technology, located in the state of Sonora, Mexico. Considered factors are entrepreneurial orientation, organisational competitions, institutions and capital. To validate the hypothesis and use of the proposed model, a survey was applied to 116 SMEs from Sonora; using a logistic regression technique, a probability function was calculated. Results can help to understand some of the elements that are present in this complex process of integration of SMEs in global value chains.