Impact of Internal Capabilities, International Competitive Pressure and R&D Cooperation of Firms on Their Innovation Performance: Evidence from Madagascar

On the basis of a sample of 117 firms, this study aims at investigating the effect of firms’ internal capabilities consisted of Absorptive capacity, R&D capability, Production capability and one external factor having an influence on firms such as International competitive pressure, and also R&D Cooperation on their innovation performance with evidence from Madagascar. To test the three hypotheses formulated in this paper, a multiple linear regression is applied, with the innovation performance as the dependent variable. Our results reveal that while R&D capability and R&D Cooperation affect positively firms’ innovation performance; Absorptive capacity, Production capability and International competitive pressure did not demonstrate any positive impact on it. Therefore, our findings highlight two major points in the context of developing countries’ firms to shape and reinforce their innovation performance: to conduct R&D activities and to engage in R&D Cooperation as means of strengthening their internal and external capabilities.