Origins of knowledge and innovation in R&D alliances: a contingency approach

Innovative performance is influenced both by the origins of the existing knowledge that is combined to generate innovation and by how economic actors search for new knowledge. Drawing on a sample of inter-firm dyadic R&D alliances, we found that whereas the integration of geographically distant knowledge and of organisationally proximate knowledge in R&D alliances are negatively related to the alliance innovative performance, search span positively moderates both relationships. We conclude that, in order to make the most of broad-span searching, firms participating in R&D alliances should integrate geographically distant but organisationally proximate knowledge. By doing so, firms take advantage of the diversity and novelty that characterises geographically distant knowledge, while preserving considerable levels of relative absorptive capacity that are needed for them to understand, internalise, and effectively use partners’ knowledge from different domains.     

跨界搜索均衡对企业创新绩效的影响——战略柔性的调节作用

将组织均衡理论引入跨界搜索研究,构建了跨界搜索均衡对企业创新绩效影响的理论框架,实证考察了跨界搜索的匹配均衡、联合均衡及其交互作用对企业创新绩效的影响,以及战略柔性对上述影响的调节作用。基于192家高新技术企业的问卷调查数据进行实证研究。结果表明:跨界搜索的匹配均衡和联合均衡对企业创新绩效有正向影响;跨界搜索的匹配均衡和联合均衡对企业创新绩效具有正向的交互作用;战略柔性正向调节跨界搜索均衡的两个维度与企业创新绩效的关系。     

外部知识搜寻及其双元性对科技型中小企业管理创新的影响

外部知识搜寻对内部资源不足的科技型中小企业管理创新有着重要意义，结合知识搜索理论和组织双元理论，探讨外部知识搜寻及其双元性对科技型中小企业管理创新的影响与边界条件。通过318家科技型中小企业调查数据，运用层次回归方法进行实证分析，得出以下结论：知识搜寻宽度对科技型中小企业管理创新有着倒U型影响；知识搜寻深度对管理创新有着正U型影响；平衡式知识搜寻正向促进科技型中小企业管理创新；组合式知识搜寻对管理创新不存在显著影响。     

Innovation ambidexterity of open firms. The role of internal relational social capital

The success of the open innovation (OI) paradigm is still debated and literature is searching for its determinants. Although firms’ internal social context is crucial to explain the success or failure of OI practices, such context is still poorly investigated. The aim of the paper is to analyse whether internal social capital (SC), intended as employees’ propensity to interact and work in groups in order to solve innovation issues, mediates the relationship between OI practices and innovation ambidexterity (IA). Results, based on a survey research developed in Finland, Italy and Sweden, suggest that collaborations with different typologies of partners (scientific and business) achieve good results in terms of IA, through the partial mediation of the internal SC.     

元素—架构双元知识搜寻对企业创新绩效的影响：创新战略的调节作用

基于组织搜寻理论和战略协同理论,探讨元素—架构双元知识搜寻对企业创新绩效的影响,以及创新战略在二者关系间的调节作用。结果显示：元素知识搜寻对创新绩效具有倒U型影响,架构知识搜寻对创新绩效具有线性正向影响,双元知识搜寻平衡对创新绩效具有正向影响。知识搜寻策略与创新战略存在适配性：探索式创新正向调节元素知识搜寻与创新绩效间的关系,对架构知识搜寻与创新绩效关系的调节应用不显著;利用式创新正向调节架构知识搜寻与创新绩效间的关系,对元素知识搜寻与创新绩效关系的调节效应不显著。结论拓展了外部知识搜寻研究视角,可为企业合理选择知识搜寻策略和创新战略提供理论支持。     

Search within or beyond the industrial cluster? The effect of perceived competition and knowledge base tacitness on strategic location choices of external knowledge search

ABSTRACT

From a knowledge-based perspective, this paper highlights the need for a framework linking perceived competition of the industry and firms’ strategic location choices of external knowledge search and examines whether the perceived competition increases the propensity of cluster firms to search more widely from extra-cluster knowledge sources than intra-cluster knowledge sources. Furthermore, we emphasise that cluster firms with varying degrees of tacitness in their knowledge base might respond to such competition differently when conducting external knowledge search activities. Using a sample of 310 cluster firms in the Zhejiang Province of China, we find that the cluster firm would increase the propensity for more geographic boundary-spanning search relative to local search while under the pressure of competition. Moreover, the positive relationship between perceived competition and the propensity towards geographic knowledge search is weaker when the tacitness of the cluster firm’s knowledge base is higher. The findings contribute to the understanding of the relationship between competition and the choice of location strategies in external knowledge search.     

权变视角下知识搜索平衡与企业创新绩效关系研究

基于组织双元性理论,探讨知识搜索平衡与企业创新绩效的关系,并进一步考察环境动态性和环境竞争性的调节作用。基于苏南地区158家企业问卷调查数据展开实证研究,结果表明：知识搜索联合平衡正向影响企业创新绩效,环境动态性在其中起负向调节作用;知识搜索匹配平衡正向影响企业创新绩效,环境竞争性在其中起正向调节作用。     

组织整合视角下情景双元动态收敛过程研究

基于组织资源基础理论，探索性提出以组织整合为中介，以创业导向和组织情景为阶段性调节变量的间断平衡向情景双元平衡收敛的动态过程模型。通过对高科技企业210名员工的调查统计分析，结果发现：①组织间断平衡正向影响情景双元；②组织整合在间断平衡对情景双元的影响中起中介作用；③创业导向在中介的前后两个阶段均起调节作用；④组织情景仅在中介的后一阶段起调节作用。该研究从静态平衡拓展到情景双元平衡形成的动态收敛过程，揭示了情景双元形成的内在作用机理，对企业有效实现双元平衡具有重要实践意义。     

Inter-firm trust in buyer–supplier relations: Are knowledge spillovers and geographical proximity relevant?

This paper empirically examines the impact of knowledge spillovers and geographical proximity on inter-firm trust in buyer–supplier relations. In particular, the effects of incoming knowledge spillovers from vertically related firms and firms’ appropriability problems are analyzed. The results suggest that there is a positive relationship between incoming knowledge spillovers from business partners and the level of inter-firm trust. Firms’ appropriability problems, however, lead to a decrease in inter-firm trust. Firms that cannot protect their technical knowledge have a greater perception of customer (supplier) opportunism. Furthermore, estimation results indicate that inter-firm trust between geographically close partners exceeds inter-firm trust between distant partners.     

CEO兼具自恋和谦卑特质与组织双元性的关系研究

组织实现双元性——平衡探索和利用行为——对获取竞争优势至关重要,但同时也面临挑战:既不能过度利用已有技术和能力,避免陷入成功陷阱;也不能过度探索全新领域,避免陷入失败陷阱,而是要兼顾两类行为、均衡投入、不偏不倚。作为企业最重要的领导者,CEO的人格特质对此具有重要影响。然而,已有双元性文献和有关CEO自恋、谦卑特质的研究均忽略了这个问题。基于自我调节理论和悖论理论,本文探究兼具自恋和谦卑特质的CEO在实现组织双元性中的作用及其条件,从CEO个体差异视角给出实现双元平衡的新解释。研究发现:(1)经由自我调节,CEO兼具看似矛盾的自恋和谦卑特质,二者取长补短、相互校正,促进探索和利用行为的平衡;(2)高管团队多样性和企业环境动态性会破坏CEO自我调节过程进而抑制CEO双重特质的作用,是上述关系的理论边界。来自江苏省128家企业的588位高管人员的现场问卷调查支持了上述观点。本文拓展了组织双元性的前因研究,丰富了CEO自恋和谦卑特质的战略领导力文献,也对企业创新管理实践有所启发。     

Transformational leadership and absorptive capacity: an analysis of the organisational catalysts for this relationship

Research analysing the antecedents of a firm’s absorptive capacity suggests that transformational leadership (TL) is one of its main determinants. However, the few studies focusing on the relationship between these two variables do not explicitly assess why transformational leaders facilitate knowledge acquisition, sharing and retention inside firms. This paper suggests that the reason is that the former contributes to the creation of an organisational context that favours learning processes. We test our research model on a sample of 467 Spanish industrial firms. Findings provide evidence that TL is positively related to the firm’s absorptive capacity and that this relationship is mediated by some organisational learning facilitators: experimentation, risk-taking, interacting with external environment and dialogue.     

Catch-up strategy of latecomer firms in Asia: a case study of innovation ambidexterity in PC industry

ABSTRACT

Over the last decade, more and more East Asian firms have moved beyond imitation and are delivering innovative products and services to the market. This study examines (a) how a latecomer firm in East Asia transformed its business model in pursuit of manufacturing its own brand and (b) how it managed its exploration and exploitation of the market and technology in response to growth and competition. Given the lack of research on firms transitioning from contract manufacturing (CM) to own-brand manufacturing (OBM), this study offers fresh insights into how Acer, a leading Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer (OEM), has pursued new ways of creating value using an innovation ambidexterity strategy to maximise its customer value and boost performance.

Acer is chosen for this case study because of its significance and impact in the global PC industry. Data were collected through interviews and secondary data analysis. Our findings show that innovation ambidexterity is a deliberate transition process, taking firms years to reshape their business models. Our findings also present a viable solution to sustainable competitive advantage and keys to firms’ renewal in face of environmental change. This study contributes to the innovation management literature, and the use of the innovation ambidexterity framework examines how firms explore new ways of creating and capturing value and face challenges.     

How do employee training and knowledge stocks affect product innovation?

The main purpose of this paper is to explore how interactions of knowledge flows and knowledge stocks could shape firms’ innovative performance. Knowledge flows are measured on the grounds of human resource training practices while different levels and forms of knowledge stocks (i.e. educational attainment, exporting activity, and firm age) are considered. We make use of two-period panel probit regressions and a rich data survey of the 524 largest Greek manufacturing firms conducted in two waves (2011 and 2013). Our findings suggest that the beneficial effects of knowledge flows strengthen when knowledge stocks accumulated by employees’ education and firm age are low. When knowledge stocks are limited, knowledge flows can act as a bridge for product innovation. On the contrary, when knowledge stocks are high, higher investments in knowledge flows may lead to diminishing returns and, thus, to decreased innovation performance beyond a certain point.     

Gaining or losing? The social capital perspective on supply chain members’ knowledge sharing of green practices

To accelerate the reform of green management, organisations need to adopt new green practices to seek knowledge through inter-firm environmental collaboration. In order to promote knowledge sharing, it is important to know how organisations evaluate the logic behind their green practices, i.e. gaining or losing, by referring to crucial supply chain networks. We identified factors that were considered influential in adopting a new practice through the social capital perspective and also examined their impact on the green supply chain. This study used the partial least square method to analyse the green management performances of 160 Taiwanese firms. The results suggest that cognitive capital significantly affects knowledge sharing behaviours among supply chain members. Furthermore, while the structural capital had a significant effect on knowledge inflows, its influence on the outflows of knowledge was limited. Both the inflows and outflows of knowledge considerably influence green management performance. The findings indicated that supply chain social capital plays an important role in implementing the logic of adopting green practices and also aids network members in obtaining individually required resources.     

Spillovers and absorptive capacity in the decision to innovate of Spanish firms: the role of human capital

This paper investigates whether the existence of knowledge spillovers and the capacity of firms to assimilate them, which we relate with R&D intensity and some human resource management practices, are associated with the decision to innovate of Spanish firms. In order to do this, we employ data from the ‘Central de Balances’ database, which covers both manufacturing and services firms during the period 2003–2007, and use an estimator proposed by Wooldridge [2005. Simple solutions to the initial conditions problem in dynamic nonlinear panel data models with unobserved heterogeneity. Journal of Applied Econometrics 20, no. 1: 39–54] for dynamic random effects discrete choice models. The empirical exercise provides evidence on the positive link between spillovers and the innovative behaviour of companies, not just for the knowledge generated in the same industry, but also for that generated in the same region or by the public sector. Moreover, this link is stronger for those firms with a higher capacity to absorb those spillovers. This ability not only works through firms’ R&D capabilities, but also through factors such as the quality of the labour force, the share of temporary employment and the amount of resources spent in training. In addition to these factors, we find that innovation performance exhibits a high degree of inertia. Further, some other observed firm characteristics, such as size, sales growth, export behaviour, sector capital intensity or financial structure variables, are also found to be relevant determinants of the likelihood of innovation.     

How should firms carry out technological diversification to improve their performance? An analysis of patenting of Korean firms

This research aims to analyze how a firm's technological diversification strategies influence its financial performances, in terms of ‘technological diversification’ in broad technology sectors and ‘technological concentration’ on its own core technology, especially in the case of Korean large firms. The data used in the analysis were panel data encompassing the years between 1990 and 2006, which linked Korean firms’ patent information registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office to the financial data of those firms collected from Korea Investors Service, Inc. (Kis-Value). For the estimation of the panel data, a fixed effect model, which considers the individual firms’ own effect on the financial performance, was used. Tobin's q was used as a dependent variable representing firm performance, while ‘broad technology diversity’ and ‘core technology diversity’ were used as the focal explanatory variables. The results show that a firm seeking to have more technological assets should invest in a broad technological diversification strategy in its search for new business opportunities; it should likewise concentrate on the core technology in order to maintain its financial performance.     

情景双元视角下知识搜寻协同对创新绩效的影响

知识搜寻协同对创新绩效影响的“黑箱”机理是什么？其中，外部搜寻环境扮演了什么角色？影响机理和环境之间有什么样的互动关系？围绕上述3个问题，构建一个有中介的调节效应模型，以中国本土生产性服务企业为样本进行分析，得出如下结论：①知识搜寻协同对创新绩效有正向影响；②情景双元在知识搜寻协同和创新绩效的关系中发挥中介作用；③网络惯例对知识搜寻协同与创新绩效的关系具有调节作用，而这种调节作用是通过情景双元的中介实现的。最后，为我国生产性服务企业基于搜寻协同的创新绩效提升提出可行策略。     

外部知识搜索对制造企业技术创新的影响——知识协奏能力的中介作用与创新意愿的调节作用

知识是企业技术创新的基础，企业不仅要搜索外部知识，还应具备知识协奏能力。基于知识基础理论和资源协奏理论，将外部知识搜索分为搜索宽度和搜索深度两个维度，探讨二者对企业技术创新的影响，并研究知识协奏能力的中介作用和创新意愿的调节作用。结果表明，搜索宽度和搜索深度均对知识协奏能力有显著正向影响，知识协奏能力对企业技术创新有显著正向影响，且知识协奏能力分别在搜索宽度、搜索深度与企业技术创新之间起部分中介作用。此外，创新意愿在知识协奏能力与企业技术创新之间起调节作用。结论揭示了外部知识搜索对企业技术创新的内在作用机理，可为制造企业知识协奏能力和技术创新水平提升提供理论支持。     

Antecedents of strategic ambidexterity in the context of internationalisation: a panel study of Taiwan Small and median-sized enterprises

This study seeks to investigate the antecedents of Small and median-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) ambidexterity strategy, and also to explore the association between ambidexterity strategy and SMEs’ performance with internationalisation as a moderator. Based on a longitudinal panel data set of 225 Taiwan SMEs, we testify the proposed hypotheses with STATA 10.0 by a series of panel data analysis. The empirical results show that both learning capability and top management team heterogeneity positively relate with SMEs’ ambidexterity strategy, while SMEs’ network capability cannot predict ambidexterity strategy. We also find that there is an ‘S’ shape relationship between ambidexterity strategy and SMEs’ performance, and this relationship is negatively moderated by the degree of internationalisation. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

领导行为与团队双元创新能力构建关系研究

双元领导能较好地满足复杂创新过程中的差异化需求,但对双元领导与创新过程的匹配机制尚缺乏深入研究。针对双元领导这一领导行为理论的新发展,基于社会认知理论,采用问卷调查法收集45个知识团队的领导-下属配对数据,构建并检验一个有中介的调节效应模型。结果表明,双元领导能显著正向预测团队双元能力构建;团队心理安全在双元领导与团队双元能力之间发挥有中介的调节作用。与团队心理安全较高时,双元领导对团队双元能力的正向影响更强;团队心理安全的调节作用通过团队反思这一中介路径实现。团队心理安全较高时,双元领导通过团队反思对团队双元能力的正向影响更强。研究结论拓展了双元领导及团队双元能力构建相关研究。