Interfirm Cooperation: Are the Existing Theories Relevant for Small Enterprises?

Abstract

In the global, knowledge and technology-intensive industries, small enterprises have to collaborate with other firms in order to achieve a competitive advantage. To do so, small firms have to create unique cooperation strategies, instead of the kind of alliance capabilities that would be relevant for bigger (even medium) companies. Even though many theoretical studies on cooperation strategies in both Management and Entrepreneurship exist, only a limited number of empirical studies have been conducted. The main purpose of this empirical paper is to explore the phenomenon of interfirm cooperation in small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs). Differences between alliance portfolio in small and medium firms are explored based on a sample of 104 Polish ICT firms and their alliance portfolios. Empirical tests confirmed the differences between small and bigger firms’ cooperation strategies. Most theories related to interfirm cooperation and alliance portfolios are relevant for large and medium firms. Small enterprises forced to collaborate by changing market environments have had to create own ways of collaborating, as well as their own business models. The differences should be taken into account when analyzing firms of various sizes and characteristics.