Numerous publications try to identify and test empirically the link between innovation and export to explain firms' competitiveness. If several ways of thinking coexist without a real consensus, this article proposes a different approach, by considering innovation and export as two complementary activities mobilizing common practices within companies. With a special focus on small-sized companies, this article aims to identify evidences from the ground to explore the synergies between innovation and exportation activities. This research work is based on a methodological approach combining an explorative analysis of the literature, leading to the proposition of a specific theoretical framework as well as an empirical analysis putting forward evidences from small-sized firms' practices. Relying on a set of joint innovation and export practices from our reference framework, we present a cross-case analysis among 11 different innovative and exporting French SMEs in order to identify how the synergistic effect between innovation and export can be shaped.