Research On Alliance Portfolio Management Capability Impacts On The Cooperative Innovation Performance

Alliance portfolio is a collection of network form of business organization in order to achieve their own strategic plan created or involvement of multiple alliances.Under the background of open innovation,the traditional forms of industrial organization have undergone major changes,and corporate innovation activities require the cross-cutting and communion of knowledge in different disciplines.More and more companies have established several alliances in the cross-industry and cross-geographical regions at the same time,namely alliance portfolio.In this unique institutional arrangement or organizational form,companies can not only gain advantages in resources and capabilities,but also the structure and interaction among various member companies will affect the overall value of the alliance portfolio beyond the sum of the value of any single alliance.As the size and the heterogeneity of the alliance portfolio increases,the focus companies will have additional management tasks in their organization and coordination.However,most companies do not manage the alliance portfolio as a whole.They tend to focus only on the competition relationships among the alliances.Only a few companies will consider whether there is a complementary relationship between the alliances they have.As a result,researchers have realized that managing alliance portfolios is no longer just about managing alliance partners and the alliance itself.Instead,it needs to be based on a holistic network of alliance partners,to minimize the conflicts between alliances from the perspective of overall and composition,and to give full play to the synergy in the alliance portfolio.Therefore,to build a high-performance alliance portfolio,an enterprise must have the ability to develop and manage several external alliance relationships,ie,alliance portfolio management capability.Although the existing theories emphasize the innovation benefits that the alliance portfolio brings to the enterprise,there is still a lack of a systematic and comprehensive theoretical research framework for the mechanism of alliance portfolio management capability and enterprise innovation activities.For this reason,based on a sample of Chinese local companies as a research sample,this dissertation follows the analysis logic of "capability-relationship-performance" to analyze and demonstrate the relationship between alliance portfolio management capability,knowledge power,relationship learning,and cooperative innovation performance.Through reference and integration of resource theory,organizational learning theory,and innovation management theory,the following three closely related research issues are discussed: First,what is the relationship between the alliance portfolio management capability of an enterprise and its own cooperative innovation performance? Second,what is the path of the alliance portfolio management capability of an enterprise to the cooperative innovation performance? Third,what are the effects of different external environmental characteristics on the above mechanisms?In response to these three specific issues,this dissertation conducted the following normative analysis and empirical research.1.Based on the analysis of relevant research results,the dissertation analyzes the connotation and structural dimension of the alliance portfolio management capability,and constructs a theoretical analysis model in which the alliance portfolio management capability influence the cooperative innovation performance.It is pointed out that the alliance portfolio management ability can not only directly affect the cooperative innovation performance,but also improve through the company's own knowledge power and the relationship with the alliance partners.2.Based on the theoretical model proposed in the first research question,the literature study and theoretical discussion were further carried out,and from this,a detailed research hypothesis was put forward that the alliance portfolio management capability could enhance the corporate cooperative innovation performance.Then through the collection of large sample questionnaires of 225 local companies,the structural equation modeling research methods were used to empirically test the hypotheses proposed in this dissertation.3.On the basis of the above two studies,the regulatory variables of external environmental characteristics were introduced.From the perspective of contingency,we further examined whether there are differences in the influence mechanism of alliance portfolio management ability on knowledge power and relational learning under different external environments.Through the use of correlation analysis,multiple regression analysis and other methods for empirical research,the above regulatory effects are tested.Through the above research work,this dissertation draws the following main conclusions:1.The alliance portfolio management ability has a positive impact on the cooperative innovation performance.Proactive planning ability,portfolio construction ability,relations optimization ability and portfolio coordination ability can help improve cooperative innovation performance.2.The alliance portfolio management ability affects the cooperative innovation performance by affecting corporate knowledge power,relationship learning.The two variables of knowledge power and relational learning play a partial or complete mediating role in the two relationship paths between alliance portfolio management capability and cooperative innovation performance.In addition,relational learning has a greater impact than knowledge power.3.The characteristics of the external environment play an important regulatory role in the mechanism of alliance portfolio management ability influencing the knowledge power,as well as the mechanism of relational learning.This dissertation introduces two regulatory variables,environmental dynamism and environmental munificence,to examine the contingency effect of coalition portfolio management capabilities on corporate knowledge power,and relational learning.The empirical results show that,Part of the hypothesis is supported by empirical tests.Overall,the research conclusions of this article deepen the understanding of the basic question of how alliance portfolio management capability affect the performance of corporate cooperative innovation,which is mainly reflected in the following research contributions:1.Further clarified the connotation and dimensions of alliance portfolio management capability.As a core concept of this research,the dimension division and measurement of the alliance portfolio management capability is one of the focuses in this research.Based on the analysis of related research results,this dissertation believes that alliance portfolio management capability is the ability of an enterprise to obtain competitive advantage by identifying alliance values and opportunities,designing and establishing alliance portfolios,and using,maintaining,and coordinating alliance relationships at all levels,which can be divided into four dimensions: proactive planning ability,portfolio construction ability,relations optimization ability and portfolio coordination ability.Based on the determination of dimensionality division,this study forms a corresponding measurement scale.At the same time,empirical research confirms that the dimension division and measurement meet the research standards.2.It analyzes how the alliance portfolio management capability,acts on the essential process of the cooperative innovation performance,and solves the problem of cooperation relationship management and innovation performance improvement in the alliance portfolio.Based on comprehensive theoretical research and large sample statistical analysis,this paper deeply analyzes the mechanism of alliance portfolio management capability,affecting cooperative innovation performance.After analyzing and grasping the interactions between the various entities in the alliance portfolio,and the theoretical framework of the multi-medium effect model including relational learning and knowledge power has been established.and the research perspective of innovation management in the alliance portfolio is further enriched.It provides important references for companies to effectively establish and manage portfolio portfolios and enhance collaborative innovation performance.It also deepens the innovation management theory in coalition portfolios and complements and expands research on organizational learning theories and power theories.3.The dissertation explains the mechanism of alliance portfolio management ability on relational learning and knowledge power under the regulation of external environment characteristics.At present,there is still a lack of literature on in-depth studies on the role of alliance portfolio management capability,from the perspective of the contingent.This paper argues that the effectiveness of alliance portfolio management on relational learning and knowledge power will have certain differences under different external environmental characteristics.The research results show that the external environment affects the dependence and learning orientation of firms in the alliance portfolio.This research discovery extends the depth of research on existing organizational learning theory and relationship theory,and also provides new management thinking and practical guidance for companies to choose appropriate cooperation and innovation methods in different external environments.