Font Size: a A A

A Study On The Firm’s Generic Technology Innovation, Absorptive Capacity And Its Effects On Innovation Performance

Posted on:2014-01-19Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:J FuFull Text:PDF
GTID:1229330401460183Subject:Business management
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
To overcome the two innovation obstacles which are the lack of core industrial generictechnologies and that of absorptive capacity faced by current economic development in China,our country put forward the development strategy of the industry technology innovationalliance in2007. The theoretical research, however, about this innovative mode is stillrelatively lack and most research stays in more qualitative analysis without in-depthdiscussion and empirical study. It has become the urgently studied and solved theoreticalproblems that what kind of alliance pattern is suitable for industrial generic technologyinnovation and how firms can improve ability to innovate and implement innovationperformance in this kind of alliance. This paper takes co-evolution analysis between firm’scooperation innovation mode and innovation ability as the breakthrough point to research thequestions mentioned above by combining case study and empirical research method. We getsome findings through the research. First of all, the characteristics of cooperation modes aresummarized based on technology requirements of different developing stages of firms. Fromits historical development rule, this paper summarizes the potential influent factors of firms’innovation performance during the generic technology innovation. Secondly, the theoreticalmodel about generic technology innovation in China is established and the mechanism howdifferent members influent firm’s innovation performance is also discussed. Finally, based onGuangdong innovation practice, the empirical research is carried out to research the impact ofknowledge sourcing strategies(internal R&D, cooperation with university, cooperation withindustry chain partners, informal communication) and absorptive capacity(PAC, RAC) oninnovation performance(new product performance, financial performance).The main conclusions and contribution of this study is embodied in the followingaspects:(1) Taking the firm Kingfa as a typical case, this paper explores the co-evolution betweencooperation model and ability to innovate. We find that, Firstly, both of them present a spiralinteraction effect during the firm’s lifecycle. The evolution path of cooperation model fromlineary mode to bridge type and then going to network mode shows the process that resourceflows to firm. Secondly, by analyzing the features of firm’s difference developing stages, acommon phenomenon is found that firm needs the different knowledge sources matching itsinnovation goal and ability to gain competitive advantages in different stage of development.Finally, as to as industrial generic technology innovation, the network innovation model isneeded in China. The innovative firms demand to obtain the innovation knowledge from different alliance partners such as supplier, customers, public research institution, government,and so on to achieve better performance. At the same time, they also need to conduct internalR&D activities.(2) This research constructs the industrial generic technology innovation alliancetheoretical model, which shows that firms expecting to succeed in technology innovation needto expose to a network-type organization. The integration formation of industrial generictechnology innovation alliance in China is determined by firms’ present absorptive capabilityand technology innovation process. The alliance is expected to collect diverse innovationknowledge source to makeup the fact that firms in China possess relatively weak ability toexplore and exploit technologies. At the exploration stage of industrial generic technology,firms need obtain the basic knowledge from universities and market information frompartners in industry chain to conduct the application-oriented technology R&D. At thetechnology exploitation stage, the firms need to partnership with industry chain partners.When the problems are encountered in application, the will be upward feedback and modified.After several times cycle the technology can be commercialized. Meanwhile, the researchsuggests that the R&D support by government in the former stage is necessary to reduce therisks of exploring technology and ensure the success of technology innovation.(3) This paper researches the influence of the knowledge sourcing strategies on firm’sinnovation performance in the industrial generic technology alliances by empirical study.Through the analysis of successful firms in Guangdong industry-university alliances, thispaper summarized four main types of knowledge sources: internal R&D, coopera tive R&Dwith industry chain partners, cooperative R&D and informal communication with universities.And then the empirical mode is put forward. The empirical results show that the influence offirm’s internal R&D input on its new product innovation performance is fully mediated byabsorptive capacity. The R&D cooperation with universities has the same effect as R&D inputdoes. Informal information communication with universities is related to PAC and RACsignificantly, but there is no significant correlation with new product performance. R&Dcooperation with industry partners is positively related to new product performance, at thesame time, the PAC and RAC play a partially intermediary role. PAC and RAC have positiveimpact on the new product sales, and that effect of RAC on the financial performance ispartially mediated by new product performance. Government funding positively moderatesthe relationship between internal R&D input and PAC. The breadth of knowledge basenegatively moderates the relationship between R&D cooperation with industry chain partnersand PAC, but does positively the relationship between the other three knowledge sources and PAC.Through the case study, this paper discusses the co-evolution mechanism betweencooperation innovation mode and ability of firms, which enriches the research results aboutthe mode selection of technology innovation. Based on the case study conclusion, buildingtheoretical model of the generic technology innovation in China context enriches the study ofthe theory of technology alliance. Using hierarchical regression analyzes the impact ofinternal and external knowledge sourcing strategies of firm on its innovation performance, theroles of absorptive capacity of the multidimensional attribute and the government’sinvestment and firm’s knowledge base during innovation process, which expands theempirical research in this field.
Keywords/Search Tags:Generic technology innovation, Absorptive capacity, Cooperation innovationmodel, Knowledge sourcing strategy, Technology alliance, Knowledge base
PDF Full Text Request
Related items