Resumen

GONGORA, Gabriel; GARCIA, Domingo  y  MADRID, Antonia. Efecto del apoyo público sobre el comportamiento innovador y el rendimiento en PYMES. Revista de Ciencias Sociales [online]. 2010, vol.16, n.3, pp.400-417. ISSN 1315-9518.

Innovation is one of the key competitive factors that enterprises should develop to assure their survival. The disadvantage of SMEs and their own characteristics of investment in innovation justify public intervention using government aid for innovation. The objective of financial support is to motivate a greater innovative effort that produces an increase in social wealth. The purpose of this work is to study public assistance for innovation in SMEs, analyzing the relationship between innovative behavior and performance. An empirical study was carried out at 143 manufacturing SMEs in the state of Yucatan, Mexico. Data was collected using a questionnaire directed to company managers and analyzed using univariate and multivariate techniques. Results showed that: 1) the current innovative behavior (IB) of subsidized firms is higher than non-subsidized firms, 2) the IB increases in subsidized firms after the government support and 3) the IB affects performance evolution in a positive way. However, the effect of public subsidy on firm performance is null. The results obtained are of great interest for public administration in order to design public assistance programs for innovation in SMEs.

Palabras clave : Grants; performance; SME; innovative behavior; Mexico.