(Universidad Icesi, 2013-01-01) García Pérez De Lema, Domingo; Madrid-Guijarro, Antonia; Barona Zuluaga, Bernardo
Innovation enables companies to achieve a sustainable timely competitive advantage and is a key
determinant of economic growth. Funding has often been mentioned as a major barrier to carry out
innovation activities. This empirical paper analyzes the relationship between funding sources and
innovative activity by IberoAmerican micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (Msmes) based on the
results of a survey conducted on a sample of 1970 firms. The results indicate a significant positive
relationship between the use of borrowed funds and innovative activity. This demonstrates the importance
of mechanisms to facilitate Msmes access to external debt funding in order to achieve high levels of
innovation.
