Internationalization and Networking as Drivers of Product and Process Innovativeness of Firms

Many empirical studies confirm the relationship between internationalization and innovativeness of firms. There is also a rich research stream on the role of networks in creating innovations and networking as conducive for the innovativeness of firms. It is not clear whether the internationalization or the networking is more important for innovativeness of a firm. It is also not clear which type of innovation – product or process innovation is supported stronger by the internationalization and networking. The aim of the research is to explore the relationships between internationalization, networking and product versus process innovativeness of firms in Poland. The empirical data were collected from 274 firms by direct interviews. The key contribution of the research is that learning by internationalization and learning by networking may lead to the innovativeness of firms, but it is the internationalization which plays here the dominating role. For an emerging market, like the Polish one, the internationalization is more conducive for process innovativeness of firms then for their product innovativeness.