Search results

We argue that a foreign-based R&D subsidiary of a multinational enterprise (MNE) can potentially source knowledge from three diverse knowledge networks, namely (i) external knowledge network of the home country, (ii) external knowledge network of the host country, and (iii) internal (MNE) knowledge network. Drawing on the relative costs and benefits associated with the process of synergistic knowledge, this study examines whether a substitutive or a complementary relationship exists when two of the aforementioned networks collaborate in order to generate new knowledge at the subsidiary level. Our study’s sample is based on a survey questionnaire addressed to foreign-based R&D subsidiaries of Fortune 500 companies. We assess the existence of complementarity/substitutability using the “production function approach.” Our results indicate that a complementary relationship exists between external knowledge network of the host and the home country, as well as between external knowledge network of the host country and internal knowledge network. On the other hand, external knowledge network of the home country and internal knowledge network form a substitutive relationship. Our study offers a more comprehensive view of the diverse sources/knowledge networks that R&D subsidiaries are sourcing knowledge from when compared to existing research. We also specify and account for the costs/benefits involved in knowledge sourcing and thereby detect possible substitution/complementarity between different sources of knowledge. So far, there has been limited to nonexistent research into the diversity of knowledge networks of R&D subsidiaries and the examination of potential substitutabilities and complementarities. Hence our empirical study contributes to the development of this particular research stream.

This research examines the differential impact of the importance of internally and externally sourced information and knowledge and their relationship to absorptive capacity and firm performance. In addition, this analysis deals directly with the unobservable heterogeneity amongst firms that is generally viewed as the raison d'être for a unique resource-based perspective of organizational performance. Latent class, finite mixture regression models are used that show that a single model relating knowledge sourcing, absorptive capacity and firm performance is inadequate in explaining even a minor portion of the variation which is seen between firms.

This study aims to examine the effects of external knowledge sourcing breadth and depth and explore whether there exists a complementary effect of breadth (or depth) and knowledge management (KM) capacity on firms’ innovation performance. Specifically, this study investigates the direct effects of breadth, depth and KM capacity on product and process innovation outcomes and tests whether complementary effects exist between breadth and KM capacity and between depth and KM capacity.

This study uses the survey data of 302 manufacturing firms in Thailand and uses ordinal regression analysis to test the hypotheses empirically.

Regression results reveal that breadth and KM capacity are essential for enhancing firms' innovation performance, while depth is not significant. However, the authors do not find a significance of complementary effects between breadth and KM capacity and depth and KM capacity on firms’ innovation performance.

This study provides additional evidence to contribute to an ongoing debate on what knowledge sourcing strategies (breadth or depth) are significant for enhancing firms’ innovations. Moreover, it explores whether complementary effects between KM capacity and breadth/depth exist in determining firms' innovation performance, which is a neglected issue in the existing literature.

Having a short throughput time for innovation projects, i.e. lead-time, can put firms in an advantageous position. The time that lapses between a project’s start and its completion, is influenced not only by the firm's internal capabilities but also by how the firm connects to external knowledge. This paper assesses the relation between knowledge sourcing and lead-time advantage.

This paper empirically tests the relation between external knowledge sourcing and lead-time advantage based on firm level Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data.

I find that breadth and depth of the external knowledge sourcing are positively relating to lead-time advantage, albeit with diminishing returns. Investment into absorptive capacity, i.e. internal R&D, mitigates the diminishing of returns. Firms directing their external knowledge sourcing strategy toward consumers, suppliers and science are better able to capitalize on their innovations through lead-time advantages and firms also benefit from the special case of collaboration for product development.

The conceptual novelty of this research largely consists in empirically bringing together for the first time conceptualizations of external knowledge sourcing and the strategic use of lead-time. Given the prevalence of both concepts in the modern and fast changing economy, investigating this link is of great importance.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of external knowledge in the innovation process of firms in the food and beverage (F&B) industry and the effects of two external knowledge sourcing modes on new product development (NPD) performance.

The paper applies a quantitative approach, relying on data from 157 Italian firms operating in the F&B industry to test the hypotheses through OLS regression models.

Results suggest that the surveyed firms actively engage in open innovation with strong ties with market-based sources. Moreover, the authors found that market-based sources are associated with income from incremental innovation and time to market, while science-based sources are associated with income from radical innovation. Finally, the authors found that the R&D intensity enhances the benefits of the above external knowledge sourcing modes.

Despite the large amount of studies assessing the effects of external knowledge sourcing on performance in the open innovation field, few studies focused on a specific industry, especially with regard to F&B. Moreover, this paper considers different types of NPD performance measures given that different external knowledge sourcing modes exert different effects.

Many studies have investigated the relationship between the adoption of open innovation and performance in large firms. However, limited research is available with regard to the use of open innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are important because of their contribution to innovation in almost all economies. The purpose of this paper is to extend the current literature by focusing on SMEs. Using complementarity and knowledge-based theories, this study develops three hypotheses to identify the effect of knowledge sourcing approaches for innovation on SMEs’ innovation performance.

Surveys collected from 196 SMEs in Korea were analyzed using the supermodularity function to test the hypotheses.

Results indicate that an external knowledge-oriented approach has no significant effect, whereas an internal knowledge-oriented (i.e. closed) approach has a positive effect on innovation performance. Interestingly, this study found that open innovation has a negative effect on SMEs’ innovation performance (i.e. both internal knowledge-oriented and external knowledge-oriented approaches have a substitutive relationship).

This study sheds new light on open innovation and knowledge management research by identifying the relationship between knowledge sourcing approaches for innovation, and innovation performance in SMEs. Practical implications highlight that open innovation could impede SMEs’ innovation performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine firms’ knowledge-sourcing behavior in green technology development with respect to the home country’s market- vs nonmarket environmental policy stringency.

This paper empirically analyzes the effects of market and nonmarket environmental policy stringency on firms’ knowledge sourcing activity with patent data from OECD countries during 1991–2010, across five categories of green technologies.

When a nation establishes more stringent market environmental policies, firms likely source more international knowledge rather than domestic knowledge about green technology, up to a point. After that level, this balance shifts (inverted U-shaped curve) due to the risks associated with greater investment costs and commerciality. Nonmarket environmental policies instead should exhibit a positive, linear relationship with international relative to domestic knowledge sourcing. This study also reveals the dynamic roles of a firm’s green technological capability with market-based environmental policy stringency and a substitutive role of the capability with nonmarket-based environmental policy stringency.

This study shows the effect of market and nonmarket environmental policy stringency on firms’ knowledge sourcing. The findings provide meaningful implications for policymakers regarding the optimal levels of market and nonmarket environmental policy stringency that will enhance their countries’ green technology development.

This paper enriches the literature of environmental policy and knowledge sourcing and offers the direction of future research of how environmental policy stringency influences a firm’s knowledge sourcing for green technology development.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the innovation value chain (IVC) that encompasses knowledge sourcing, transformation and exploitation activities among Indonesian manufacturing firms by using data from the Indonesia Innovation Survey.

A simple approach of single equation Probit model, Logit regression and Tobit regression are used in the first, second and third stages of IVC consecutively.

This study finds the existence of a synergistic relationship between internal and external sources of knowledge as well as among external sources of knowledge. In terms of the second link of the IVC, internal R&D plays an important role that positively influences knowledge transformation into all types of innovation and innovation success. External knowledge that has a similar pattern in shaping innovation mainly comes from market and open sources. Scientific institutions tend to contribute to innovation negatively, and few positive impacts on process innovation are observed from government R&D and non-profit R&D institutions. Informal knowledge is more likely to influence technological than non-technological innovation.

Finally, the limitations of this study need to be acknowledged. Issues related to firms’ sectors have not been discussed in this study, and as a result, sectors’ effects on the three links of IVC cannot be detected. This study is a cross-sectional in nature, as a result, the dynamic of Indonesian manufacturing firms’ IVC is missing. Hence, future studies may address this limitation by conducting a longitudinal study.

This study is different from the previous IVC studies owing to the following reasons. Firstly, in this study, a broader source of knowledge is tested. Secondly, the wider innovation (technological and non-technological innovation) is also assessed.

Openness to external knowledge has recently gained popularity as a means for firms to complement and leverage internal knowledge in the pursuit of innovation outcomes. However, conflicting evidence exists regarding the role of openness in external knowledge acquisition. This paper aims to propose that openness to external knowledge has a nonlinear effect on innovation performance and that this nonlinear relationship is contingent on an ambidextrous knowledge search strategy.

Based on original large-scale survey of 246 interfirm collaborations in the high-technology industry, it is found that the impact of openness to external knowledge on innovation performance exhibits an inverted-U shape and that this relationship is affected by an ambidextrous knowledge search strategy.

The results indicate that an ambidextrous knowledge strategy that addresses the depth and breadth of external knowledge significantly influences a firm’s ability to derive benefits from increased openness to external knowledge. Empirically, the authors provide an original contribution to high-technology firms by exploring how and why an ambidextrous knowledge strategy can be a critical catalyst spurring innovation performance.

The research scope is limited to a single industry. Further research could extend the theoretical framework to multiple industries, which may increase the likelihood of innovation theory development.

The results suggest that firms opening up the boundaries of their innovation activity to engage in external knowledge are able to leverage their in-house innovation to enhance their innovation performance. The authors advocate that in innovation management domains, greater emphasis is needed on how openness to external knowledge has more positive impacts not only on innovation performance but also on innovation implemented management.

This study is among the first to investigate the ambidextrous knowledge search effect on the external knowledge of high-technology firms. This paper contributes to the theoretical and practical literature concerning openness innovation and knowledge management by reflecting on the ambidextrous knowledge search strategy.

Scientific collaborations represent informal external ties that together with formal R&D alliances constitute a multichannel knowledge sourcing network in science-based industries. Although such multichannel knowledge sourcing benefits firms by providing more thorough access to external sources, it also entails potentially significant redundancies worthy of consideration. This paper aims to take a step by first verifying their existence, followed by an examination of key contingencies determining the extent of these redundancies, i.e. firm absorptive capacity, balanced utilization of ties and firm size.

This is an empirical study that uses scientific collaborations and R&D alliances of US pharmaceutical companies to test the proposed hypotheses.

This paper verifies the existence of multichannel knowledge sourcing redundancies, followed by an examination of key contingencies determining the extent of these redundancies, i.e. firm absorptive capacity, balanced utilization of ties and firm size.

To the knowledge, this is a first attempt at clarifying redundancies in innovative knowledge sourcing and their implications for firm innovation performance.

Las colaboraciones científicas representan vínculos externos informales que, junto con las alianzas formales de I + D, constituyen una red de abastecimiento de conocimiento multicanal en industrias basadas en la ciencia. Aunque esta fuente de conocimiento multicanal beneficia a las empresas al proporcionar un acceso más completo a fuentes externas, también implica impotantes potencailes redundancias que merecen consideración. Dichas redundancias tienen su origen en conocimientos específicos que se superponen y en los requisitos de recursos clave similares, incluido el presupuesto y prsonal de investigación. A pesar de su importancia, la literatura no ha ofrecido una descripción completa de las posibles causas y contingencias de estas redundancias. El presente estudio da un paso en esta dirección al verificar primero su existencia, seguido de un estudio de las contingencias clave que determinan el alcance de estas redundancias.

este es un artículo empírico que utiliza el contexto de la industria farmacéutica para probar la interacción entre las colaboraciones científicas y las alianzas de I + D como impulsores del desempeño de innovación de una empresa farmacéutica que se manifiesta en la productividad de sus patentes.

El análisis empírico revela que el efecto de las colaboraciones científicas y las alianzas de I + D es de hecho parcialmente sustitutivo o redundante, y que dicha redundancia es mayor para las empresas con baja capacidad de absorción, utilización desequilibrada de los dos tipos de vínculos externos y su tamaño.

Este es uno de los primeros intentos empíricos de explorar los efectos sustitutivos de las colaboraciones científicas y las alianzas de I + D a nivel de empresa. La incorporación de contingencias clave como la capacidad de absorción, la utilización equilibrada de las relaciones y el tamaño de la empresa mejoran aún más la novedad y originalidad de nuestra investigación.

Colaborações científicas representam links externos informais que, juntamente com alianças formais de P&D, constituem uma rede de fornecimento de conhecimento multicanal em indústrias baseadas na ciência. Embora essa fonte multicanal de conhecimento beneficie as empresas ao fornecer um acesso mais completo a fontes externas, ela também envolve redundâncias potenciais significativas que merecem consideração. Essas redundâncias resultam da sobreposição de conhecimentos específicos e requisitos de recursos chave semelhantes, incluindo orçamento e pessoal de pesquisa. Apesar de sua importância, a literatura não fornece uma descrição completa das possíveis causas e contingências dessas redundâncias. O presente estudo dá um passo nessa direção, primeiro verificando sua existência, seguido por um estudo das contingências-chave que determinam a extensão dessas redundâncias.

Este é um artigo empírico que usa o contexto da indústria farmacêutica para testar a interação entre colaborações científicas e alianças de P&D como impulsionadores do desempenho inovador de uma empresa farmacêutica manifestada na produtividade de suas patentes.

A análise empírica revela que o efeito das colaborações científicas e alianças de P&D é de fato parcialmente substituto ou redundante, e que a referida redundância é maior para empresas com baixa capacidade de absorção, utilização desequilibrada dos dois tipos de links externos e seu tamanho.

esta é uma das primeiras tentativas empíricas de explorar os efeitos substitutos de colaborações científicas e parcerias de P&D no nível da empresa. Incorporar contingências importantes, como capacidade de absorção, utilização equilibrada de relacionamentos e tamanho da empresa, aumenta ainda mais a novidade e originalidade de nossa pesquisa.