Diversification In The Process Of Knowledge Utilization And Knowledge Development And Its Impact On Corporate Performance - Our It Listed Companies, For Example

One of the central questions in the field of Strategic Management is: what are the determinants of corporate performance and, more specifically, what are the factors that explain sustained superior profitability over time? (Rumelt, Teece and Schendel, 1991; Castaner, 2002) Strategic Management researchers have tended to broadly distinguish two levels of analysis in examining the source of firm profitability: the corporate level and the business level. (Ansoff, 1965; Castaner, 2002) In this dissertation, the author focus on the corporate level to examine two disputable issues: (l)whether and how diversified firms are able to derive benefits from multibusiness, and (2)whether different diversification mode will lead to the significant difference in corporate performance.On the basis of analyzing and summarizing the conventional theories, the Transactions Costs Economics and PENROSE Theory, this dissertation draws the competence theory of the firm (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990, 1994) and the behavior theory of firm adaptation (March, 1991; Levinthal and March, 1993) into an analytical system for diversification, and constructs a learning-based research framework grounded by the exploitation and exploration of knowledge resource. In the framework, the exploitation of knowledge is the transferring and sharing of existing knowledge across related business. In contrast, the exploration of knowledge consists of the pursuit of new knowledge or competence through entry into new business. The moderator absorptive capacity not only refers to the ability of firm to recognize and acquire the new knowledge, but also the ability to syncretize the existing and new knowledge, innovate and apply them to commercial ends. (Kumar, 2002)By the framework discussed above, the dissertation mainly deals with the following content: (1)the relationship between the exploitation of knowledge and corporate performance with different absorptive capacity; (2) the relationship between the exploration of knowledge and corporate performance with different absorptive capacity; (3) the relationship between the mode of diversification and corporate performance with different absorptive capacity, which based on the difference of the degree of the exploitation and exploration of knowledge; (4) the relationship between the learning mode of diversification and corporate performance with different absorptive capacity, which based on the difference of knowledge types that involved in the exploitation and exploration.Drawing from the findings of existing documents, and on the base of logical andtheoretical analysis, the dissertation presents the following assumptions: (l)under the situation of rich absorptive capacity, the exploitation of knowledge has a positive effect on corporate performance, while with the increasing of the degree of exploitation the marginal effect will be decreasing; whereas under the situation of poor absorptive capacity, the exploitation will have a positive effect only at a low degree, and it will go to the opposite once the degree beyond a certain critical point. (2)Under the situation of rich absorptive capacity, the exploration of knowledge has a positive effect on corporate performance, and the marginal effect will be increasing with the degree of exploration; whereas under the situation of poor absorptive capacity, the relationship between them will go to the opposite. (3)Under the situation of rich absorptive capacity, as for the corporate performance, the mode of higher exploitation and exploration will be better than the one of higher exploitation and lower exploration, and the latter will be better than the one of lower exploitation and higher exploration, while the mode of lower exploitation and exploration will be the worst; whereas under the situation of poor absorptive capacity, the mode of higher exploitation and lower exploration will be better than the one of lower exploitation and exploration, and the latter will be better than the one of lower exploitation and higher exploration, while the mode of highe...