The Role of Cooperation Activities on Firm Perceived Performance. Evidence from Small and Medium Size Enterprises

Abstract

The density of globalization processes led to an incredible increase in the use of external sources by organization. Thus cooperation in SMEs is an established option to improve their performance and house-based knowledge. On a survey of 172 managerial level employees, this paper explore the relationships between firm cooperation activities and perceived firm performance by incorporating the structure equation model (SEM). The study finds that there is a positive relationships among cooperation activities and firm perceived performance of SMEs. The results also confirms that cooperation activities with suppliers and customers shows the most significant effect on perceived performance of SMEs.

Keywords: Cooperation, Performance, Cooperation activities, SMEs, Customers, Suppliers, Competitors