The dark side of knowledge transfer: Exploring knowledge leakage in joint R&D projects

Knowledge leakage refers to loss of technological knowledge intended to stay within a firm׳s boundaries and may cause a “weakened state” in which a focal firm loses its competitive advantage and industry position. Based on multiple case studies of knowledge leakage in joint research and development (R&D) projects in large firms in Sweden, this paper makes two contributions. First, in contrast to the uni-dimensional dyadic leakage process assumed in the literature, we find that the knowledge leakage process is multi-dimensional and exists in three varieties: i) a process whereby an external party assimilates knowledge from a focal firm, ii) a process whereby an external party assimilates knowledge from another external party, and iii) a process whereby the focal firm uses knowledge already shared with an external party in such a way that it becomes sensitive. Second, where the prior literature suggests that core knowledge must be protected from leakage, we find that some core knowledge can leak without negative effects, whereas some knowledge, being non-core to a focal firm, can have severe negative effects. These insights provide novel theoretical implications and new insights into how firms can manage knowledge leakage in practice.     

Absorptive capacity—one size fits all? A firm‐level analysis of absorptive capacity for different kinds of knowledge

This paper empirically analyzes the effect of R&D activities, human resource and knowledge management, and the organization of knowledge sharing within a firm on the absorptive capacity of innovative firms for three different types of knowledge, namely absorptive capacity to use knowledge from a firm's own industry, knowledge from other industries and knowledge from research institutions. Using data from the German innovation survey, we investigate how firms are able to exploit knowledge from external partners for successful innovation activities. The estimation results show that the determinants of absorptive capacity differ with respect to the type of knowledge absorbed for innovation activities. In particular, we find that the R&D intensity does not significantly influence absorptive capacity for intra‐ and inter‐industry knowledge. Additionally, our results suggest that absorptive capacity is path dependent and firms can influence their ability to exploit external knowledge by encouraging individuals' involvement in a firm's innovation projects. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coping with rivals’ absorptive capacity in innovation activities

Two factors jointly determine the likelihood of a firm′s competitors obtaining information on its intangible assets and using it to damage the firm′s innovation performance. Those factors are the absorptive capacity of the rival firm and the appropriability regime of the innovating firm. However, the precise roles of the two factors in affecting performance outcomes are not well documented. Furthermore, we lack knowledge of the interplay between an appropriability regime and absorptive capacity, although they clearly have the capacity to exert positive and negative effects both on each other and on innovativeness. This study presents findings derived from theoretical discussion and an empirical examination of 155 firms that suggest that while competitors’ absorptive capacity does not play a direct negative or positive role on the innovation performance of a firm, an appropriability regime exerts a strong positive influence. Nevertheless, high rival absorptive capacity is not without importance, since the significant interaction effects suggest that a strong appropriability regime has positive effects on innovation performance especially in the context of a rival having high absorptive capacity.     

知识共享对企业技术创新能力的影响分析

知识共享是知识管理的核心，企业通过知识共享，运用集体的智慧提高其应变能力和创新能力。但由于企业内外部环境的日益复杂以及知识共享过程中出现的各种不确定因素，从而阻碍了企业技术创新能力的发挥。本文分析了知识共享中态度、主观规范、自我效能对企业技术创新能力的影响。对这个问题的研究，能有效地帮助企业提升企业技术创新能力、构建技术创新能力体系。     

Open search strategies and firm performance: The different moderating role of technological environmental dynamism

Mainly driven by the rapid progress of the ‘open innovation’ paradigm, previous research has devoted considerable efforts in investigating how the degree of openness to external knowledge influences firms׳ innovation performance. However, much less is known about its impact on performance at the firm level. Moreover, the question of which open search strategy is more suitable depending on environmental features is unresolved. We focus on breadth and depth as two distinct open search strategies and claim that, besides their different benefits in terms of learning and innovation, it is also necessary to consider their costs. Based on survey data of 248 high-technology manufacturing Spanish firms, this study extends recent research about the context dependency of openness effectiveness by showing that the effect of these two open search strategies on perceived firm performance is contingent with technological environmental dynamism in a reverse fashion. While search breadth is found to be positively associated with performance in less technologically dynamic environments, it seems to hurt performance in more dynamic contexts. On the contrary, while search depth is found to have a positive effect on performance in highly technologically dynamic environments, it appears to harm firm performance in more stable contexts.     

Exploring the effect of buyer engagement on green product innovation: Empirical evidence from manufacturers

In this study, we are interested in how export firms organize knowledge management and increase product innovation performance. Prior studies have concluded that knowledge transfer from external actors leads to operational performance outcomes; others have questioned the positive influence of buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities on innovation performance. Drawing on absorptive capacity, we aim to offer a better understanding, how export firms as recipients of knowledge resources, organize their internal capabilities in order to realize firm-level product innovation. This empirical study examines the interplay of buyer-driven knowledge activities, resource acquisition and combining, and product innovation outcomes in the context of Pakistani export firms. Drawing on survey data from 239 export-manufacturing firms, we test hypotheses using structural equation modeling. Our findings show that buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities play a crucial role in enhancing export firms in absorbing and combining resources that lead to product innovation. The pragmatic suggestion of the research suggests that managers look closely at developing a culture of involvement with their buyers that promotes the development of knowledge resources. The results of this study have research, policy, and managerial implications.     

Innovation efficiency and firm performance in a benchmarking context

This paper examines the effect of innovation efficiency on firm performance using the Greek version of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) 2012–2014 and employs a dataset of 1,274 innovative manufacturing firms. Introducing a data envelopment analysis (DEA)-type benchmarking strategy with non-continuous knowledge inputs, the main findings suggest that innovation efficiency, although does not exert a direct impact on firm performance, moderates the relationship between the internally generated knowledge and firm performance. On the other hand, such a moderation relationship is not confirmed for the relationship between external knowledge and innovation spillovers on firm's performance. Although the impact of the embodied to innovation inputs spillovers, on firm performance, is always positive and significant, empirical results indicate that absorptive capacity exhibits diminishing returns with respect to performance.     

When does inward technology licensing facilitate firms' NPD performance? A contingency perspective

Many firms find inward technology licensing (ITL), as a means to access external technological knowledge, an effective and relatively inexpensive way for new product development (NPD). However, although the literature has suggested some advantages and disadvantages of ITL with respect to NPD, the relationship between ITL and licensee firms' subsequent NPD performance has not yet been found convincingly evident. Sharing with many other likeminded scholars and practitioners, we believe that the dynamics between external knowledge, internal capability, external environment, and firm performance should be investigated through a contingency perspective. Thus, this study posits that a firm's propensity to develop new products through ITL is contingent upon two categories of contingency factors that are internal and external to firms. Using a dataset containing information about Chinese firms' licensing activities, we find support for our hypotheses: the positive relationship between ITL and NPD performance of a licensee firm is moderated by firms' absolute and relative absorptive capacity and the knowledge endowment in the region where the licensee firm operates.     

A tale of two clusters: knowledge and emergence

Cluster emergence is an important topic but weakly conceptualized in the literature. Focusing on the interaction of the local knowledge pool and firm growth, the paper develops a comprehensive framework to understand cluster emergence. In the framework, the cluster formation process starts with the collision of local and external knowledge which generates an innovation and stimulates the creation of local pioneering firms in a new field. To support the growth of follow-up entrants in the new industry, the local knowledge pool needs to be expanded and deepened through local knowledge sharing and external knowledge inflows. The enlarged local knowledge pool enables local firms to grow and explore other fields further. To promote cluster emergence, public policies need to facilitate the interaction of the local knowledge pool and firm growth. The paper illustrates the interactive framework with two aluminum extrusion clusters in China that emerged in different ways over different time periods.     

Do external diversity practices boost focal firm performance? The case of supplier diversity

Based on the resource-based view, we propose that external diversity practices such as supplier diversity may affect firm performance. We find that the relationship between supplier diversity and short-term performance (i.e. productivity) is moderated by context such that firms in declining industries experience positive productivity effects while firms in munificent industries witness negative effects. For longer-term profitability (i.e. Tobin's q), we do not find support for a positive relationship between supplier diversity and long-term performance. However, positive supplier diversity effects emerge in munificent environments. Overall, in support of the strategic human resource management approach, we conclude that the effect of external supplier diversity on firm performance is contingent upon environmental munificence, which documented the necessity to include supplier diversity as a relevant component of a comprehensive diversity and equality management system.     

Outbound open innovation in bio-pharmaceutical out-licensing

Our study investigates the outbound open innovation of firms engaged in technological venturing. Leveraging insights from the sociology theory and innovation literatures, we clarify whether social status helps entrepreneurial ventures overcome market imperfection and information asymmetry in out-licensing and illustrate the importance of specific aspects of social status building in this context. We also examine the effect of failure experiences on out-licensing. We take a dynamic view of desorptive capacity by studying an entrepreneurial venture’s learning process, both internally, in terms of its own technology trajectory, and externally, through inter-organizational alliances. We apply a negative binomial model to our novel panel of 180 firms studied over an 18-year period with controls for stocks of clinical development activities, patenting and prior licensing activities. Empirical analysis enables us to observe the impact which the firms’ technological and development status, reputation and desorptive capacity exert upon out-licensing volume. Prior outbound open innovation studies do not account for the heterogeneity of technology and R&D success and failure experiences observed in our study. We also demonstrate the contingency effect of external learning from alliances during the building-up of a firm’s desorptive capacity, or the way in which the number of co-authoring partners in scientific publications negatively moderates the positive effect of the number of commercial alliances on the volume of its out-licensing deals. Our findings contribute to the understanding of external knowledge exploitation and complement important aspects of the literatures on outbound open innovation and desorptive capacity, offering empirically rich insights for bio-pharmaceutical firms into the drivers behind volumes of out-licensing deals.     

The influence of human resource management on knowledge sharing and innovation in Spain: the mediating role of affective commitment

The aim of this paper is to explain and to test empirically how human resource management (HRM) practices contribute to knowledge sharing and innovation through employees' affective commitment. Results show that HRM practices do not influence knowledge sharing in a direct way, but they do have a positive effect when affective commitment mediates the relationship. We also find a positive relationship between knowledge sharing and innovation performance. That is, HRM practices contribute to knowledge creation and innovation through the generation of the affective commitment necessary for employees to be willing to share their knowledge. The relationships identified have been tested by applying structural equation models to a sample of 87 R&D departments of Spanish innovative companies.     

Green innovation and knowledge: The role of size

This paper reports research on relationship between firm's knowledge sourcing strategy and green innovation. The data are taken from Spanish Technological Innovation Panel survey during 2007–2011. The study contributed to the literature by focusing on the moderating role of firm size on the relationship between knowledge sources and green innovations. Results from over 5,000 firms indicate a shift in the focus from internal knowledge to external knowledge when developing green innovations as firms grow in size. Despite benefits from broad knowledge search on green innovations, the relationship has an inverted U shape. The diminishing returns of knowledge breadth on green innovations are present for smaller firms and disappearing as firms get larger. Government policies promoting more coordination and knowledge complementarity between private and public sector will help to influence more knowledge transfer, ensuring a more sustainable and green economy.     

The more the merrier? Network portfolio size and innovation performance in Nigerian firms

A positive relationship between firms' networking activities and innovativeness has been consistently established in the literature on innovation. However, studies considering different innovation types, and on developing countries are scarce. This paper addresses questions concerning the relationship between networking strategies and innovativeness of firms, using innovation survey data on Nigerian firms. Quantile regression is applied to trace the link between portfolio size and innovation at different levels of innovative success. The results show a positive relationship between a firm's innovation performance and the size of its networking portfolio. This relationship varies across different innovation types and with increasing innovation performance. The findings suggest that the widely accepted portfolio approach to external search for knowledge is not necessarily always the best—its utility depends on the firm's current level of innovative success. This poses a challenge for open innovation.     

The innovation decision: An economic analysis

Studies of the determinants and effects of innovation commonly make an assumption about the way in which firms make the decision to innovate, but rarely test this assumption. Using a panel of Irish manufacturing firms we test the performance of two alternative models of the innovation decision, and find that a two-stage model (the firm decides whether to innovate, then whether to perform product only, process only or both) outperforms a one-stage, simultaneous model. We also find that external knowledge sourcing affects the innovation decision and the type of innovation undertaken in a way not previously recognised in the literature.     

Relationships among open innovation,innovative performance,government support and firm size: Comparing Brazilian firms embracing different levels of radicalism in innovation

This work extends knowledge concerning the relationships among open innovation, innovative performance and government support for innovation within Brazilian firms. Data were obtained from two different firm samples (Sample A, on incremental innovation, and Sample B, on radical innovation). The main research results are as follows. First, in considering government support for innovation, Sample B, based on radical innovation, played a superior and stronger role than Sample A. Secondly, for both samples, the cooperation of external firms has a positive effect on firms’ innovative performance, which was positively controlled by the size of the firms. Thirdly, in general, radical innovation requires synergy and a more intense focus regarding the constructs considered therein. This work also adds value in methodological terms, as this is the first research to have tested different models of samples with different levels of radicalism in innovation.     

Partner Type Diversity in Alliance Portfolios: Multiple Dimensions,Boundary Conditions and Firm Innovation Performance

Our research extends the current knowledge based view on the configuration of alliance portfolios and their deployment in different external knowledge environments. We study these alliance portfolios in a longitudinal sample (1996–2010) for over three thousand firms that operate in a large number of industries in the Netherlands. Our findings indicate that partner type variety and partner type relevance, as different dimensions of partner diversity in alliance portfolios, both have an inverted U‐shaped association with firm innovation performance. However, alliance portfolios characterized by both high partner type variety and high relevance cause inferior innovation performance. Different external knowledge environments, characterized by different levels of industry modularity and scope of knowledge distribution, moderate the inverted U‐shaped associations of partner type variety and relevance in alliance portfolios with firm innovation performance in opposing directions. While for partner type variety, a high level is found to be optimal in environments with greater modularity or broader scope of knowledge distribution, for partner type relevance it turns out that a low level is optimal under more modular industry conditions.     

Knowledge sharing in supply chain networks: Effects of collaborative innovation activities and capability on innovation performance

Building on knowledge management and innovation capability theories, this paper aims to reveal the mechanisms of collaborative innovation processes by investigating the complex relationships among critical factors influencing firm's innovation performance in supply chain networks. Using hierarchical Multiple Regression (MR) and Moderated Multiple Regression (MMR) methods, results from a survey of 236 firms in China indicated that there are significant positive relationships between collaborative innovation activities, knowledge sharing, collaborative innovation capability, and firm's innovation performance. Moreover, it is expected that knowledge sharing plays a partial mediating role in the relationships between collaborative innovation activities and firm's innovation performance. Collaborative innovation capability exhibited a moderating effect on collaborative innovation activities - innovation performance relationship. These results contribute to collaborative innovation process management by offering a nuanced conceptualization of the collaborative innovation - performance relationship in supply chain networks.     

Green Knowledge Sharing,Stakeholder Pressure,Absorptive Capacity,and Green Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms

A central issue faced by many Chinese manufacturing firms is how to absorb and utilize green knowledge shared among supply chain members for superior green innovation. Invoking the indirect research stream of organizational learning theory, we develop a moderated mediation model in which absorptive capacity mediates the interactive effects of green knowledge sharing and stakeholder pressure on green innovation. Our hypotheses were tested using a sample of 247 Chinese manufacturing firms. The results from multiple regression and bootstrapping tests reveal that absorptive capacity fully mediates the link between green knowledge sharing and green innovation, and the mediation effect is positively contingent upon stakeholder pressure. These findings provide managerial implications for Chinese manufacturing firms, recommending that these firms effectively develop their absorptive capacities and closely monitor stakeholder pressure to realize the green innovation benefits of green knowledge sharing.     

Neither invented nor shared here: The impact and management of attitudes for the adoption of open innovation practices

Despite the massive interest in open innovation, limited attention has been expressed concerning the intra-organizational challenges in implementing it. An exemplary issue is the unwillingness of employees to undertake extra-organizational knowledge transactions in the form of negative attitudes against the sourcing of external knowledge (the not-invented-here (NIH) syndrome) and against the external exploitation of knowledge assets (the not-shared-here (NSH) syndrome). Using survey data collected from 331 firms, this article empirically assesses the theoretical assertion that the NIH and NSH syndromes have negative impacts on the adoption of inbound and outbound open innovation. Furthermore, it investigates how their effects can be reduced through competence-building programs based on the training of employees. By focusing on two attitudinal antecedents to openness, the findings offer an explanation for the problems that firms face in benefiting from inflows and outflows of knowledge and possible guidance as to how managers can disengage such attitudes.