Data: A collaborative ?

This study examines the interdependence of relational strategies and data management policies of SMEs during product innovation. The type of data management developed by a small firm to support its innovation efforts requires it to engage in competitive, vertical cooperative or coopetitive relationships. An empirical study of 109 leaders of French high-tech SMEs provides a descriptive and explanatory analysis of this question. This empirical study combines three theoretical dimensions: the characteristics of a Big Data policy, of an innovation product and of a relational strategy. We enrich the existing knowledge concerning the exploitation of data by SMEs by presenting a typology of their data strategies. We also find that Big data and Smart data policies are deployed by SMEs to support product innovation. Finally, we show that SMEs implement data management individually to support radical product innovation but will collaborate to support incremental product innovation. The nature of the data innovation guides the relational context of the SME. This study deepens the interdependence of data management and relational strategies among SMEs.