Investigating the capabilities of the SME firms in the formation and continuation of technological collaborations: a multi case study

Today, the development of technological collaboration is one of the important strategies for developing resources, capabilities and gaining competitive advantage among organizations. This kind of collaboration among small and SME firms is important for creating significant effects on their success. One of the important pillars to create and maintain partnerships is to create the necessary capabilities to enter and use these collaborations. In this paper, we have tried to examine the various capabilities of several SME technology companies through interviews with corporate executives and partners, and studying documents and observation and by analyzing the theme, based on a few case studies. The results show that the capabilities required in collaborative technology in firms include four types of interoperability and continuity capabilities, product / service support capabilities, product / service collaboration support capabilities, and the same or complementary capabilities for collaboration that a set of The capabilities are based on the type of collaboration and its purpose in these sets. These capabilities are the basis for the formation and continuity of cooperation as well as the amount of operation and the result of cooperation for the firm.