Matilde Ruiz-Arroyo

Innovativeness and Performance in Women-Owned Small Firms: The Role of Knowledge Acquisition

Abstract The phenomenon of women’s entrepreneurship has been growing in importance over the last decade due to the significant increase in firms founded by women. The current study seeks to analyze the results achieved in small women-owned firms by explaining the extent to which they acquire and exploit the capabilities needed to obtain sustainable competitive advantages. Based on a sample of women entrepreneurs, this study analyzes the innovativeness of women-owned businesses, its relationship to performance and the role of knowledge acquisition from relationships with customers and collaborators. The results obtained show that innovativeness is positively related to different types of operational and financial performance, and that knowledge acquisition from customers improves innovativeness. This improvement does not occur, however, in the case of knowledge acquisition from collaborators.