Purpose

This study aims to inquire about pre-requisites and benefits of collaboration in the UK and India, testing for significance of country context.

Design/methodology/approach

The survey data set includes 118 UK-based and 175 India-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This paper applies a grounded theory research design, given that to date, no sufficient SME sector-specific, quantitative frameworks have been published.

Findings

India-based SMEs are more inclined towards frequent collaboration. Soft variables such as perceived trustworthiness or past commitment, appear to be significant when explaining whether or not SMEs in India enter into a collaboration. Operations-driven motives play the most significant role for them, whereas for UK-based SMEs, product design-related collaboration motives are of more importance.

Research limitations/implications

The developed cross-country and country-specific collaboration variables will facilitate SME studies under a consistent and complete framework.

Practical implications

Business associations and SME owners in the UK can use the research to gain an Indian perspective and vice versa. This study concludes a stylised framework for SME owners and managers to classify collaboration patterns in a country.

Originality/value

While previous research established concepts and practices of SME collaboration, this is the first paper that quantitatively addresses the attitudes and experiences that SME owners hold when initialising inter-firm collaboration.

中文翻译：

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印度与英国中小企业所有者对公司间合作的看法

目的

本研究旨在调查英国和印度合作的先决条件和好处，测试国家背景的重要性。

设计/方法/方法

调查数据集包括 118 家英国和 175 家印度中小企业 (SME)。鉴于迄今为止，尚未发布足够的针对中小企业部门的定量框架，因此本文采用了扎根的理论研究设计。

发现

印度的中小企业更倾向于频繁合作。在解释印度的中小企业是否进行合作时，诸如感知可信度或过去承诺等软变量似乎很重要。运营驱动的动机对他们来说起着最重要的作用，而对于英国的中小企业来说，与产品设计相关的合作动机更为重要。

研究限制/影响

发达的跨国和特定国家的合作变量将在一致和完整的框架下促进中小企业研究。

实际影响

英国的商业协会和中小企业所有者可以利用这项研究来获得印度的观点，反之亦然。本研究总结了一个程式化的框架，供中小企业所有者和管理者对一个国家的合作模式进行分类。

原创性/价值

虽然先前的研究确立了中小企业合作的概念和实践，但这是第一篇定量地讨论中小企业所有者在启动公司间合作时所持有的态度和经验的论文。