This paper provides new evidence on barriers that hamper small and medium‐sized enterprises (SME) in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) to establish international collaboration. Our analysis makes use of collected data concerning internationalization of SMEs in seven BSR countries. Our logistic multivariate regression model, which we applied after selecting relevant variables using the LASSO method, indicates a significant positive effect for the entities´ demand in support to acquire clients as well as the absence of foreign markets operations. A significant adverse effect is found for cooperation agreements as a support tool for internationalization as well as the interest to participate in an innovation and internationalization system. SMEs rather desire their internationalization capacity building than direct support in acquiring clients. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that strengthening cross‐national collaborations and establishing appropriate support programs are important toward innovativeness and competitiveness among SMEs in the BSR. Smart Specialization Strategies (S3) could provide a framework for building cross‐national collaborations.

中文翻译：

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波罗的海地区中小型企业的国际化：考虑区域智能创新专业化战略的跨国合作的障碍

本文为阻碍波罗的海地区（BSR）的中小企业建立国际合作的障碍提供了新的证据。我们的分析利用了与七个BSR国家中的中小企业国际化有关的收集数据。我们的逻辑多元回归模型是在使用LASSO方法选择相关变量之后应用的，该模型表明该实体对支持客户获取需求的需求以及缺乏国外市场运作均产生了显着的积极影响。发现合作协定作为国际化的支持工具以及参与创新和国际化系统的利益，会产生重大不利影响。中小企业宁愿希望其国际化能力建设，也不希望直接获得客户支持。总体，我们的结果支持以下假设：加强跨国合作并建立适当的支持计划对于BSR中的中小企业之间的创新和竞争力至关重要。智能专业化策略（S3）可以为建立跨国合作提供框架。