Search results

Whether foreign direct investment (FDI) can promote technology progress in the host country, or not, has become an issue in recent decades. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of FDI on regional technological capabilities.

This paper first analyzes the spillover effects of FDI with reference to actual conditions in foreign‐funded enterprises in China, then uses correlation analysis and regression analysis to show the impact of FDI on technological capabilities. This paper compares the R&D expenditures in foreign‐funded enterprises and FDI origin countries between three typical regions – Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Guangdong – to show the influencing factors of spillovers.

The impact of FDI on regional technological capabilities is found to be weak; FDI has little use for enhancing indigenous innovation capability. The regions with higher technological capabilities will attract the higher quality of inward FDI, and the powerful technological capabilities and abundant human capitals in domestic enterprises are essential factors to stimulate the spillover effects of FDI.

The arguments could be discussed more fully if an empirical model could be established to disclose the determinants of spillover effects. How to measure the spillover effects quantitatively is a key problem for future research.

This paper discloses the mutual relationship between domestic and foreign‐funded enterprises. The findings in this paper provide some insights for both the host countries and the foreign investors.

Little research on brand extension observes the role of technological levels between parent brand and brand extension on consumers' attitudes toward brand extension. The present study aims to explore how consumers evaluate technology‐based brand extension and how technologic direction interacts with brand loyalty and fit in affecting brand extension evaluation.

A field experiment (n=200) was conducted. Participants were assigned to two equal‐number groups that differed in the technological direction of brand extension (i.e. upward extension versus downward extension).

This field study finds that downward brand extension is generally evaluated more favourably due to its positive effect on perceived fit; technological direction moderates the effect of fit on brand extension – fit has stronger positive effect on downward brand extension than on upward brand extension; fit moderates the effect of brand loyalty on brand extension – when fit is high, brand loyalty's effect is positive, whereas when fit is low, brand loyalty can have negative effect on brand extension; and the moderating effect of fit on brand loyalty is further moderated by technological direction of brand extension – for upward brand extension, the moderating effect of fit on brand loyalty is as general, but for downward brand extension, fit enhances the effect of brand loyalty.

The results lend significant new insights to brand extension research by showing that the effect of brand loyalty on brand extension is moderated not only by fit but also by technological direction, and that the moderating effect of fit on brand loyalty's effect on brand extension is further dependent on the technological direction.

For the management of upward brand extension – where a lower‐tech brand extends to a high‐tech product, more care and caution should be taken, since brand loyalty could have a negative effect if the upward brand extension is not perceived to fit the parent brand image. Thus, it becomes extremely important to manage the fit between the lower‐tech parent brand and the higher‐tech extended product.

This is one of few studies examining the effect of technology on brand extension. The major original finding of this study is that the effect of brand loyalty on brand extension is moderated by fit, whose moderating fit is further moderated by technologic direction of brand extension.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of knowledge spillover effects (KSE) on employment levels using a sample of 245 Italian Innovative startup companies created as a result of the legislative changes of Law Decree 179/12 introduced in Italy in 2012.

This study uses a parsimonious model with the employment level as the dependent variable. The paper tests for the impact that the measures of industry competition, specialization and diversity have on the level of employment in the Innovative Startup sector in Italy. The data uses a sample of 245 firms, across 20 geographic regions in Italy for three economic sectors at the 2-Dig NAICS classification.

The empirical results provide evidence in favor of regional specialization as the main force to create and transfer knowledge resulting in increased employment; while higher levels of competition and a more diverse regional production bases result in lower firm employment levels. Employment levels for these firms are also time-dependent, and thus mainly determined at the time of the firm’s creation. This study also found a lack of technological convergence across regions, that are inherent regional differences are not bridged by knowledge spillover effects.

This paper is based on a sample of Italian Innovative Startups and consequently, further research with a potentially larger sample and, perhaps, a sample across countries could also shed some light on the issues relating to KSE and their effects on employment generation and firm formation.

From a practical point of view, the results indicate that regional disparity and limited transmission of KSE across regions remain an impediment to the flow of knowledge. This in turn may limit the development of entrepreneurial activities and further development of new firms. Practical implications regarding knowledge management indicate that firms face time and spatial challenges when developing, transferring and acquiring knowledge. In sum, the evidence points out in favor of existent and persistent regional heterogeneity in terms of economic and technological specialization as sources of employment.

This research adds to the empirical evidence focusing on the effects of knowledge spillover effects in the Innovative Startup segment of the economy. This research highlights the applicability of knowledge spillover effects accounting for levels of industry competition, specialization and diversity. We also provide a measure of cluster formation and concentration at the sectoral and regional levels. Thus, the research provides a better understanding under which conditions knowledge is more likely to have positive or negative effects on employment generation.

This study aims to examine the complex effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on China’s agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) from 2005 to 2020. It also explores the role of absorptive capacity as a moderating factor during this period.

Employing provincial panel data from China, this research measures agricultural TFP using the Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA)-Malmquist method. The impact of FDI on agricultural productivity is further analyzed using a nondynamic panel threshold model.

The results highlight technological progress as the main driver of agricultural TFP growth in China. Agricultural FDI (AFDI) seems to impede TFP development, whereas nonagricultural FDI (NAFDI) shows a distinct positive spillover effect. The study reveals a threshold in absorptive capacity that affects both the direct and spillover impacts of FDI. Provinces with higher absorptive capacity are less negatively impacted by AFDI and more likely to benefit from FDI spillovers (FDISs).

This study provides new insights into the intricate relationship between FDI, absorptive capacity and agricultural productivity. It underscores the importance of optimizing technological progress and research and development (R&D) to enhance agricultural productivity in China.

States that it is critical that incumbent firms understand the processes that enhance or inhibit entry of new firms into their industry. A new entrant into an industry may create additional demand by legitimizing the technology/products, and/or may share the existing market by drawing buyers away from incumbents. An analysis of market entry rates is especially important in new, high technology industries where sub‐groups of firms pursue different technology and global market diversification strategies because such sub‐groups may have asymmetrical cross‐effects on entry rates of new firms. Suggests a community ecology approach to assessing the impact of industry density on new firm entry rates. The framework is demonstrated by applying it to the global personal computer industry during the period of 1977‐1992. Results suggest that density has a nonmonotonic positive effect, while the firm‐level variables of technological strategy and market expansion strategies have a monotonic positive effect on new firm entry rates.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how enhanced and new technological knowledge of firms affects their performance under varying rates of technological change.

A large‐sample empirical study of US manufacturing firms is used. The main independent variables are measured using firms' patent data. Three hypotheses were developed based on theory and were tested using multivariate regressions. To increase reliability, alternative industry and firm explanators of performance were controlled for.

It was found that performance effects of enhanced technological knowledge increase with increasing rate of technological change. Effects of each knowledge dimension are found to be non‐linear. New technological knowledge has no independent effect on performance but acts jointly with enhanced knowledge in improving performance under moderate to rapid rates of technological change.

The study is narrow in scope being a fine‐grained analysis of a firm's technological competence. It does not take into account the role of marketing and administrative competence.

This is one of the few studies to disaggregate a firm's total stock of technological knowledge into its enhanced and new components.

To reconcile the existing contradictory conclusions on the relationship between cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and innovation, this paper aims to propose a theoretical model of the impact of cross-border M&As on technological innovation and explore the moderating role of institutional distance from the perspective of springboard theory and new institutional theory.

Through the use of the two-way fixed effect model and the U-test method, the authors test the hypotheses based on a sample of cross-border M&A events of Chinese manufacturing enterprises during the period from 2006 to 2019.

The research shows that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between cross-border M&As and technological innovation. Furthermore, formal institutional distance moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship in such a way that it reaches its turning point at a smaller scale of cross-border M&As, and the inverted U-shaped relationship is steeper when formal institutional distance is relatively high. The informal institutional distance moderates the inverted U-shaped relationship in such a way that it reaches its turning point at a larger scale of cross-border M&As and the inverted U-shaped relationship is flatter when the informal institutional distance is relatively high.

The research conclusions integrate heterogeneous views of the existing research, further clarify the influence mechanism and boundary conditions between cross-border M&As and technological innovation, identify the different moderating roles of formal institutional distance and informal institutional distance and enrich the literature on knowledge transfer and recombinant innovation during post-merger integration.

Firms build new product development alliances to cope with the demands of continuous and rapid new product development. Such alliances allow surplus access to complementary capabilities and knowledge. However, the successful use of specialization advantages requires coordination and effective communication between alliance partners. Communication is vital to alliance success, as it allows a timely flow of information and resources across partners and supports the coordination within the alliance. The aim of this study is to research how divergent communication schemes influence firms’ new product development performance in alliances.

A paper-and-pencil survey about firms’ collaborative new product development performance in the German medical device industry was conducted. Results are derived from a survey of n = 184 new product development alliances in the medical device industry. To test the hypotheses, structural equation modeling (SEM) using the Mplus 7.0 software was applied.

The empirical results indicate that divergent communication schemes enhance product innovativeness and speed to market in new product development alliances. The development of new insights and solutions through joint sensemaking builds the theoretical fundament for the supportive effects of divergent communication schemes. Divergent communication schemes go hand in hand with ambiguity, that is, the source of joint dialogues and discussion through which alliance partners refine and adapt their different perspectives and interpretations. However, the supportive effect of divergent communication schemes on speed to market declines with increasing collaboration intensity.

The assessment of divergent communication schemes and new product development performance of the dyadic relationships in this survey is only based on one respondent. Furthermore, the study’s focus on a specific industry sector, albeit one fitting particularly well to the research question, may further limit the generalizability of the empirical findings. Future research should thus strive to take both firms of the dyadic relationship into account and moreover attempt to investigate mediating effects such as joint sensemaking or creativity.

The results indicate that alliance managers should become aware that different ways of communication are not per se dysfunctional. To achieve beneficial effects, they should enhance dialogues and constructive discussions through which the alliance partners develop novel insights and solutions on the fundament of occurring misunderstandings that root in divergent communication schemes. Regular meetings and conferences as well as inter-organizational teams should be applied because they stimulate joint dialogues and discussions in alliances. These instruments also enable learning processes and the development of trust that are both crucial for sensemaking processes in alliances.

Prior research has stressed the importance of interorganizational communication for the success of alliances. However, little is known about the effect of divergent communication schemes in alliances. This study shows theoretically and empirically that divergent communication schemes can improve new product development performance in alliances. The supportive effect of divergent communication schemes is contrary to the argumentation that communication problems and misinterpretations hamper alliance success.

The primary objective of this study is to unveil the relationships that interconnect ESG and three pillars disclosures with technological innovation while also investigating the moderating impact of product market competition. The paper seeks to identify the underlying mechanisms that facilitate technological innovation in sustainable management.

Using data from 8,738 Chinese firms from 2011 to 2019, this study employs quantitative analysis to examine the relationship between ESG disclosure and technological innovation and the moderating effect. Moreover, this study explores the heterogeneous impacts while considering factors such as property rights and firm size.

The findings reveal a positive correlation between ESG disclosure and technological innovation. The study also investigates the moderating role of product market competition and finds that increasing competition mitigates the positive effects of ESG disclosure on technological innovation. Additionally, the conclusions reveal that the relationship between ESG and three pillars disclosures and technological innovation, as well as the moderating role of product market competition, exhibits inconsistency across firms with different property rights and sizes.

This study offers a clear understanding of the relationship between ESG disclosures and technological innovation, and how it varies across businesses of different sizes and ownership structures. It also provides fresh perspectives on the influence of product market competition on this relationship, with implications for strategy development in corporations.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of internal and external sources of knowledge on frugal innovation (FI), and to what extent this relationship is strengthened/weakened, authors also analyzed the moderating role of market and technological turbulence.

This is an empirical research. Data were collected from 382 SMEs through questionnaire survey, applied SmartPLS technique to analyse the data.

Findings revealed the significant effects of internal and external sources of knowledge on FI. To what extent this relationship is strengthened/weakened, the moderating role of market and technological turbulence was analysed. Data revealed that the moderation of technological turbulence strengthens the effects internal and external sources of knowledge had on FI. Market turbulence strengthened the effects of external sources of knowledge but surprisingly weakens the effects of internal sources of knowledge on FI.

Findings provide valuable and timely insights for the modern managers as well. Managers who operate in SMEs will have to understand that how knowledge from internal and external sources can be gathered and utilized for producing frugal products. They also will have to weigh which source of knowledge is more important when there is market and technological turbulence.

Sustainable and social issues emerge mainly due to scarcity of available resources. Firms seek to solve such pressing issues through improvisation in resources. However, frugal products assist firms to significantly contribute in society and sustainability. Although prior research has discussed the importance of knowledge for innovation, yet the effects of sources of knowledge and role of contingencies mostly remain unexplained puzzle. This study contributes to knowledge-innovation literature by examining the missing link between different sources of knowledge and FI and how the moderation of technology and market turbulence strengthen/weaken this relationship. Authors believe that it also helps to comprehend FI’s enabling factors through which firms can capitalize upon, and solve the pressing sustainable and social issues.