Abstract

SANTOS VIJANDE, Mª Leticia; SANZO PEREZ, Mª José; GARCIA RODRIGUEZ, Nuria  and  TRESPALACIOS GUTIERREZ, Juan Antonio. Learning processes in small -and medium- sized companies (SMSC): effects on innovation, quality of supply and business results. Innovar [online]. 2009, vol.19, n.33, pp.35-54. ISSN 0121-5051.

The importance of learning for a modern company's competitiveness has been widely recognised. However, measuring this complex concept and analysing its effects on several key variables for business competitiveness has been relatively recent. A scale was designed in this work which attempted to reflect the different learning sub-constructs collected from the literature, as well as the learning process' particularities in the SMSC being studied here. The effects of learning ability are linked to the intensity and degree of product innovation novelty in SMSC and the quality of their own commercialised products. These two variables' repercussion on the business results achieved by SMSC are then analysed in relation to their main competitors. An attempt is thus made to go deeper into understanding how competitive advantages are generated in organisations. The study's results confirmed the expected effects of learning on the rhythm of innovations being commercialised in SMSC and on the quality of their supply. It also highlights these variables' great repercussion on the financial and market result indicators considered in this study.

Keywords : social network; entrepreneurship network; legitimacy; entrepreneurship; entrepreneur.

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