企业外部知识搜寻多维结构与创新质量关系研究

以63家美国医药上市企业和173家中国医药上市企业发明专利为样本，研究企业多维知识搜寻结构与创新质量的关系。结果表明：①不同搜寻结构对企业创新质量的影响存在差异性，尤其是同时沿着多个维度进行远距离知识搜寻能够显著提高企业创新质量；②各维度远距离搜寻对创新质量的影响不同，在中美医药企业之间也存在一定差异；③对美国医药企业而言，知识搜寻的3个维度对创新质量的影响程度依次为认知维度>时间维度>地理维度，而中国医药企业则是认知维度>地理维度>时间维度。

Research on the Relationship Between Multidimensional Structures of External Knowledge Search and Innovation Quality

With the acceleration of technological innovation and the shortening of product life cycle, continuous high-quality innovation has become necessary for the survival and development of enterprises. However, how to improve the quality of innovation has always been a difficult problem. It has been suggested that the essence of innovation is the process of generating new knowledge to solve problems by recombining heterogeneous knowledge elements. With the increasing complexity of technology and products, as well as the gradual refinement of the industrial chain, it is difficult for an individual enterprise to obtain the knowledge to solve all the problems. Thus, only by efficiently searching for external knowledge and fully integrating internal and external resources can it be possible to maintain innovation and enhance its competitiveness.#br#Although scholars have made a lot of explorations on how external knowledge search activities affect innovation from different perspectives, most of the studies only consider one or two dimensions of enterprise external knowledge search, ignoring its multidimensional characteristics. Actually, every external knowledge search activity of an enterprise needs to consider multiple dimensions. For example, a firm can choose to search for new or old knowledge (time dimension), local or foreign knowledge (geographical dimension), and similar or very different knowledge outside the domain (cognitive dimension), etc. Therefore, any research that separates the multidimensional external knowledge search may be far from the practice of enterprise knowledge search, resulting in the deviation or misjudgment. In addition, the differences between the search dimensions might also be ignored. For instance, the new and old knowledge can reflect the maturity of knowledge, and the regional differences in geographical distance and near implied knowledge, and the familiarity in cognition represents the degree of specialization of knowledge. The novelty knowledge elements brought to enterprises by different dimensions may be different, thus affecting the results of enterprise innovation. Therefore, when multiple dimensions and their differences are considered at the same time, it is worthy of further study how external knowledge search activities will affect the quality of enterprise innovation.#br#In this study, we first extract the most representative dimensions from extant literature, and define the multidimensional structure of external knowledge search. Then, we analyze the influence of different knowledge search structures on innovation quality. Finally, we select the invention patents of 63 American pharmaceutical listed enterprises and 173 Chinese pharmaceutical listed enterprises as samples. In this step, we use subsequent citations to describe the external knowledge search activities in the process of enterprise innovation, and use forward citation to characterize the quality of innovation results. The results show that: (1) Different search structures have different impact on innovation quality of enterprises. Any distant external knowledge search, especially along multiple dimensions at the same time, can cause higher innovation quality. (2) Different search dimensions have different effect on the output of enterprise innovation quality, and there are some differences in the performance of Chinese and American pharmaceutical firms. (3) For American pharmaceutical firms, the influence of three dimensions of knowledge search on innovation quality is as follows: cognitive dimension > time dimension > geographical dimension, while Chinese pharmaceutical companies are as follows: cognitive dimension > geographical dimension > time dimension. Results can help enterprises of two countries to conduct effective external knowledge search activities.#br#This study mainly has three contributions. First, the concept of multi-dimensional structure of external knowledge search is put forward from the overall perspective, which breaks through the original single research paradigm of one or two dimensions. It is expected to provide a new idea for external knowledge search research, so that the research conclusions have more realistic explanatory and predictive power. Second, on the basis of quantifying each search dimension, the external knowledge search structure of the enterprise is distinguished and visible, and the influence degree and difference of different search structure on the innovation quality are analyzed, which provides the theoretical basis for the comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the external knowledge search activities of the enterprise. Third, by comparing the influence of the external knowledge search structure of Chinese and American pharmaceutical enterprises on the quality of innovation, this paper reveals the differences of the external knowledge search of enterprises in different countries, and provides the scientific basis for the external knowledge search activities of enterprises in different situations.#br#