Success factors of innovation networks: Lessons from agriculture in Flanders

Innovation has been identified as a critical asset for SMEs to survive (Hitt et al., 2001; Lee et al., 2001). However, SMEs that need to improve their innovation process often lack the essential resources to innovate when relying solely on their in-house activities (Batterink et al., 2010). A large body of literature therefore highlights the role of external partnerships, or networks (Lazzarini et al., 2001; Pittaway et al., 2004; Sawhney et al., 2006).Despite the increasing number of studies focusing on the relationship between networking and innovation, there is still considerable ambiguity... Mehr ...