SME'S PARTNERS IN INNOVATION COOPERATION: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF SLOVAK SME'S

Innovation cooperation has become an increasingly prominent feature of firm ' s innovation activity. Cooperation activities with other partners are opportunities to access complementary technological resources (such as skill sharing), which can contribute to faster development of innovations, improved market access, economies of scale and scope, cost sharing and risk spreading. Intensive knowledge exchange and learning processes characterize such cooperation activities which tend to combine complementary assets and to build synergies. The aim of this article is to assess the SME ' s cooperation with external partners in innovation in special division of mechanical engineering industry in Slovakia. We will answer three questions. First: how is assessed by Slovak SME ' s managers the importance of cooperation in innovation with external subjects as one of the factors significant for innovations in SMEs. Second: how is assessed by Slovak managers the significance of SMEs cooperation with individual external subjects in innovations in analysed division of mechanical engineering industry in Slovakia Third: to assess the respective type of innovation relationships with individual cooperation partners of SME's in analysed division of mechanical engineering industry in Slovakia. We stated 14 potential external subjects for cooperation in innovations and with the Friedman test we assessed the importance (significance) of SME's cooperation with external subjects in innovation activities as well as the respective type of innovation relationships with individual cooperative partners. Suggested are positive effects of cooperation with external partners in innovation, indicated are main reasons of low cooperation. Based on the research results are formulated the implications for SMEs managers and policy makers concerned with the management of innovation cooperation.