SME alliance performance: The impacts of alliance entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial orientation, and intellectual capital

This study highlights the fulfilment of firms' entrepreneurship promises through building alliances. In this regard, the impact of alliance entrepreneurship on small and medium sized enterprises' (SMEs) performance was investigated. Extending entrepreneurship into the domain of alliances, we found that there are some major factors affecting the relationship between alliance entrepreneurship and SME performance. Alliance partners' entrepreneurial orientation and protecting their intellectual capital were considered as the two most important factors. Since alliances between SMEs are common in industries affiliated to automobile manufacturing, we attempted to assess alliances among Iranian auto parts manufacturing SMEs. According to the data gathered from 81 SMEs which had established alliances, we concluded that SMEs' alliance entrepreneurship has a significant positive impact on their performance. Furthermore, SMEs' entrepreneurial orientation mediates the relationship between alliance entrepreneurship and performance as well as the relationship between intellectual capital and performance.