Study On Innovation Effect And Contracts Mechanism Of Knowledge Trading Among Members In Supply Chain

In the era of the knowledge economy, it is important for supply chain members to share knowledge and conduct cooperative innovation so as to create new values, save costs and dig profits. As a practical way to share and transfer knowledge among members in supply chain, knowledge trading can effectively cut down the costs and risks for supply chain members to get and create knowledge, raise the efficiency of knowledge application and coordinate knowledge level among supply chain members, thus helping cooperative innovation of supply chain. Based on the perspectives of decision-maker of knowledge trading among members in supply chain, the three issues such as knowledge demand and trading modes among members in supply chain, innovation effect of knowledge trading among members in supply chain and contracts mechanism of knowledge trading among members in supply chain have been studied in this thesis.First of all, the property of knowledge in supply chain and its economic features are analyzed. A knowledge demand model is built based on an example of a manufacturer dominant supply chain. Then the model defines all the demands in knowledge trading among members in supply chain. In addition, a knowledge trading level model is also established by concerning whether knowledge trading steps over the firm boundary and what boundary it step over. Then the channels and traits of knowledge trading level (in personal, in departmental and in enterprise) would be clearly defined, which is the basis for supply chain members participating knowledge trading. In addition, the conceptual model of elements in knowledge market of supply chain is proposed based on the knowledge-market theory, and the influencing factors of knowledge market in supply chain are analyzed combining the above conceptual model. Then the knowledge trading modes are divided from the attribute of educational knowledge, the willingness of knowledge trading, the target of knowledge trading and the contracts knowledge trading. The results can lay a theoretical foundation for knowledge trading among members in supply chain.Secondly, the innovation effect of knowledge trading among members in supply chain is studied with mathematical model by the theory of stackelberg two-stage game. The innovation effect is described objectively by innovation performance of participants acquired in the process of knowledge trading among members in supply chain. Based on above results of mathematical analysis, a conceptual model for the relationship among partner characteristics, knowledge trading and innovation performance is proposed in order to reveal the impacts of knowledge trading on innovation performance in depth and empirically tested using the data collected from 256 enterprises in supply chain with the structural equation model. The partner characteristics in the model are described from cultural compatibility, resource dependence and knowledge distance. The empirical results reveal not only the direct impact of knowledge trading on innovation performance, but also reveal the mediating effect of knowledge trading on relationships between supply chain partner characteristics and innovation performance. The results can provide a basis for decision making of knowlwdge trading participants in supply chain.Finally, the formal contract and relational contract of knowledge trading are designed with principal-agent theory, and then the incentive effects of contracts are analyzed. The conclusions indicate that the relational contract is more conducive to promoting knowledge trading among members in supply chain. Based on above results of mathematical analysis, relational exchange theory and transaction cost theory, a conceptual model for the impact of relational mechanism and formal contract on knowledge trading among members in supply chain is proposed and empirically tested using the data collected from 256 enterprises in supply chain with the multiple regression model. The empirical results reveal not only the effectiveness of results of mathematical analysis, but also reveal the effect path and action mechanism of relational mechanism and formal contract on knowledge trading among members in supply chain in depth. The results can provide a theoretical basis and guidance for designing contract mechanisms of knowledge trading among members in supply chain.