Introduction

Innovation and internationalization have been identified as two of the main driving forces of economic growth (Pla-Barber and Alegre 2007; Bolkunow 2019). And while globalization has changed the competitive playing field for all companies, this is especially true for small organizations within which available resources are limited (Etemad 2004; Szczepanski 2016).

The internationalization of a company can take several forms: import, external growth, direct/indirect export, etc. For this research work, we focus on a specific mode of internationalization: exporting. Several studies point out that exporting is one of the most common ways to enter the foreign market in the early stages of SME internationalization (Bianchi and Wickramasekera 2016). Thus, throughout this book, we will define exporting as the internationalization strategy aimed at positioning our products and services outside the geographic boundaries of our home country.

Exporting provides an additional source of demand via a larger market or by enabling the creation of a new market (Monreal-Pérez et al. 2012). In addition, international competitiveness helps boost the domestic market and pushes other companies to internationalize (DiPietro and Anoruo 2006). However, international markets are characterized by much stronger competitive pressure than domestic markets (López et al. 2005). SMEs are thus generally hampered by their difficulties in mobilizing the strategic resources needed to enter and succeed in international markets (Etemad 2004). However, if we look at the main figures on the competitiveness of companies, and more particularly small companies, it appears that despite the difficulties they face, SMEs do export. However, although SMEs employ a large share of the workforce, they are under-represented in global trade relative to their contribution to national economies (OECD 2018), particularly in the industrial sector. Direct exports by SMEs account for only 3% of the total SME manufacturing sales, compared to 14% for large companies (WTO 2016). In contrast, the rate of export participation appears to be clearly correlated with company size. The participation of medium-sized companies1 (59%) is higher than that of micro or small companies2 (9% and 38%) and is quite similar to that of large companies (66%) (WTO in English 2016). Thus, it seems necessary to strengthen export support, particularly for smaller structures by helping them better mobilize and optimize their strategic resources.

On the other hand, innovation has always been synonymous with success for companies, but it was generally considered a privilege reserved for some, mainly the large high-tech multinationals. However, the rapid industrial evolution linked to globalization has led all companies to constantly renew themselves in order to more quickly react to the changing conditions they face: shorter product life cycles, changing customer requirements, an evolving technological environment, aggressive competition and environmental regulations, among others. As a result, SMEs, perhaps even more than other companies, are also affected by these challenges. They are therefore forced to integrate innovation3 into their survival strategy. Nevertheless, managing innovation for small businesses in traditional sectors remains a difficult task. Although an SME is generally considered to be an environment conducive to innovation, it is not always successful (BPI France 2011b). Their flexibility seems to be a major asset, but their lack of access to resources and skills can prove to be a major constraint (Szczepanski 2016). Innovation represents a risk for SMEs, and they are not always able to assume it (European Commission, 2016b). Thus, innovation is clearly identified as a success factor for SMEs, but the difficulties they face hinder the proper management of their internal processes.

Supporting SMEs in their innovation and export activities is, therefore, a major challenge. Indeed, SMEs are the most common form of business organization and the largest provider of employment in the world. Indeed, they represent more than 95% of industrial enterprises in OECD countries (European Commission, 2016a). Consequently, they represent an extremely important economic stake and supporting them in their innovation and export efforts is therefore crucial. It seems essential to help them improve their internal practices in order to change their behavior and improve their performance while adapting to the environment in which they operate.

In this respect, there is currently a real political and economic will to take into account the considerable stakes involved in the development of SMEs. All over the world, numerous support services are offered, at the regional or national level, by public and private institutions. However, and despite the important commitment of the European Union and local authorities (innovation and export have been identified as priorities for action at the European level, such as the Horizon 2020 program), support for SMEs in innovation and international activities is not always adapted.

For example, it seems that current support services are mainly represented by financial or informational incentives (Enjolras et al. 2015). If the main difficulties encountered by SMEs, both for innovation and export, do indeed concern access to resources, it is nevertheless worth questioning the relevance of a temporary increase in resources without the organization and strategy necessary for their proper exploitation being put in place. In the case of incentive schemes, the resources provided to SMEs are mostly ad hoc, without the organizational and strategic difficulties associated with innovation and export being really addressed. Several European Commission reports have emphasized that the most effective type of support seems to be individualized support, as it allows direct action on the internal organization of SMEs by improving their skills and strengthening their resources (Francis and Collins-Dodd 2004). By building skills and changing the routine practices and activities of SMEs, the proposed support appears to be more sustainable and effective (European Commission, 2016b). Thus, it would seem that sustainable and targeted support for SMEs is about empowering them with strategic, comprehensive, and cross-cutting skills and resources.

On the other hand, although the Interreg 2014-2020 strategy devotes an entire axis to increasing the cross-border competitiveness of SMEs and 8 billion euros to SMEs, the support initiatives for SMEs tend to adopt a compartmentalized vision of the aid they offer. Support for innovation and export appear to be two disconnected initiatives, whereas a trend towards coupling these types of support is gradually emerging, according to the European Commission (2007). Indeed, recent studies have shown that companies that are able to manage innovation and international activities are simultaneously more profitable and sustainable over time (Love and Roper 2015).

According to BPI France (2011a), more than one innovative SME in two is present on the international market. This observation highlights the existence of a link between innovation and exporting, and innovation clearly appears to be a driver of international activities. SMEs that innovate are indeed more likely to engage in global markets than non-innovating companies. Process and organizational innovation, for example, can increase company productivity by reducing production costs and enabling SMEs to achieve the minimum level of efficiency required to cover fixed export costs. Through product innovation, marketing innovation and innovative branding strategies, SMEs differentiate their products from those of their competitors, allowing them to gain market share in international markets (OECD 2018). In particular, greater flexibility and a strong ability to customize and differentiate products can give SMEs a competitive advantage in global markets over larger companies, as they are able to quickly respond to changing market conditions and increasingly shorter product life cycles. For example, a report on the behavior of European SMEs (FedEx 2015) shows that fast-growing SMEs are almost twice as likely to export as declining or stagnant SMEs. Indeed, some inter-country niche markets are dominated by SMEs, and small innovative companies often become key partners for large multinationals to develop new products or serve new markets (OECD 2018).

From a theoretical perspective, the study of the link between innovation and export in the context of SMEs represents a very important research topic in the current scientific literature (Love and Roper 2015). Specifically, much work focuses on the direction of causality regarding the impact of one on the other. This paradigm is supported by two theories: self-selection (Monreal-Pérez et al. 2012; Boso et al. 2013; Raymond and St-Pierre 2013) and learning-by-exporting (Kafouros et al. 2008; Golovko and Valentini 2014). Self-selection considers that innovation positively impacts exporting. It is considered a necessary condition for exporting, allowing a company to be sufficiently armed to access international markets. Learning-by-exporting, on the other hand, considers that it is international experiences that promote innovation within companies through the acquisition of technical, commercial, and/or cultural knowledge that enables them to envisage the development of innovations. Whether it is self-selection or learning-byexporting, these two theories consider the link between innovation and export through a causal relationship. They are interested in the impact of one activity on the other and...