| As the acceleration of inter-industry technology convergence and the overlap between different industry markets,the collaboration within the industry and the collaboration within the industry chain are difficult to adapt to the rapid iterative industry changes,more and more enterprises and external organizations across industries have been established to achieve integration of heterogeneous capabilities,coping with changes,and even leading the changes.The collection of all cross-industry collaborations centered on the focus enterprise is named as “cross industry alliance portfolio”.In this unique networked form,companies can be connected with the owners of various types of different capabilities,and this complex structure with the various industry members will affect the overall value of the cross industry alliance portfolio,making it surpass the sum of the values of any single cross-industry alliance.Therefore,in the context of the gradual blurring of industry boundaries,how to successfully implement cross-industry collaboration and build a high-innovation performance alliance has become a hot spot for scholars and practitioners.In order to answer this question,this paper first reviews the existing researches on the foreign industry alliance.Foreign researches on foreign-invested alliances began in the early 21 st century,while domestic related researches started more lately.Based on the researches of the domestic and foreign alliances in the past ten years,the relevant literatures are summarized and analyzed in terms of the concept,cause,partner selection,alliance governance and multiple effects of the different industry alliances.Based on the shortcomings of the existing research,this paper has studied the question as "How do companies build a combination of high innovation performance and different industry alliances?" and decomposed it into the following five sub-study questions for separate research and answers:(1)Paying attention to the knowledge side and the transaction side elements,and explaining how to divide the enterprise's cross-industry collaboration mode?(2)In the long-term development process,how can companies match the appropriate cross-industry collaboration models at different stages regarding internal and external factors to continuously build their cross-industry alliance portfolio and gain the competitive advantages?(3)What are the dimensions of the composition of the cross-industry alliance portfolio?(4)From the perspective of contingency,what internal and external factors have influenced the construction of the cross-industry alliance portfolio,and caused the differences in the compositional characteristics of the cross-industry alliance portfolio?(5)What is the impact of the different compositional characteristics of the cross-industry alliance portfolio on the innovation performance of the focus enterprises?In order to answer the sub-study questions,this paper studies the above issues from the following aspects:(1)By utilizing the method of case study,the dynamic process model of the combination of different industry alliances with high innovation performance is established.In the fourth chapter,the vertical nested case analysis method is adopted to pay attention to the long-term dynamic process of the enterprise to build a high-performance cross-industry alliance portfolio,adopting the “portfolio” and “co-creation” logic instead of the previous “one-way learning” research logic.With the partial micro-level view of the business level,the research analyzes the process of Tianhong Fund Management Co.,Ltd.relying on cross-industry collaboration to achieve leap-forward development.Guided by the theory of enterprise genes,the multi-dimensional observation of the multi-stage cross-industry innovation of Tianhong Fund is carried out,and the dynamic process model of cross-industry innovation is constructed,which distinguishes the "capability reorganization mode" and "capability enhancement mode" and their dynamic driving mechanisms and feedback mechanisms.(2)Based on the above dynamic process model,the theoretical model of the influence of focus enterprise cooperation ability on innovation performance is constructed and tested.Based on the conclusions of the case study,and comprehensive theoretical research and sample statistical analysis,the paper analyzes the mechanism of the synergy affecting the innovation performance of the focus enterprises.The network heterogeneity is introduced,and the cross-industry alliance portfolio is divided into structural dimension,relationship dimension and partner dimension for observation.Based on analyzing the three dimensions of combining ability,the black box of the innovation mechanism of the cross-industry alliance portfolio is opened,and the theoretical model including multi-mediation effect and environmental adjustment effect is established.The combination of diversity and the size of the cross-industry alliance is the key mediator of the synergy affecting the innovation performance of the focus enterprises.Therefore,the problem of innovation performance improvement in the cross-industry alliance portfolio is solved to a certain extent,which provides an important reference for enterprises to effectively establish and manage the cross-industry alliance portfolio and improve the performance of innovation.(3)The influence mechanism of combining ability on the construction of the cross-industry alliance portfolio of focus enterprises under the regulating effect of external environment characteristics(competitive environment)was explained.The existing literature research pays less attention to the construction behavior of the enterprise cross-industry alliance portfolio from the perspective of contingency.This study believes that the effect of combining ability on the diversity and the size of cross-industry alliances portfolio will be affected by the competitive environment.Therefore,this paper takes two aspects of the competitive environment characteristics(the degree of industry boom and the competitive position of the focus enterprise)as the regulatory variables and examines the impact of combining ability on the combination of different industries(diversity and scale).The research found that the competitive environment affects the willingness of enterprises to build a cross-industry alliance based on their cooperation.This result expands the depth and width of the application of social networks in enterprise management.Besides,the research has contributed to new management concepts of adapting appropriate cross-industry collaboration methods regarding different enterprises' external environments.Through the theoretical construction based on qualitative data and the theoretical test based on large sample data,the main conclusions of this study are as follows:(1)“Restructuring of capability essence” and “strengthening of capability essence” are two basic models for cross-industry innovation.Both models motivate individual or multiple capabilities of an enterprise's existing business to mutate to the latest environment.When using the capability essence restructuring model,the case enterprise reorganizes its own business and the business of the target industry in the capability factor level to form a new superior business and help the enterprise to obtain the hybrid advantage.When using the capability essence enhancement model,case companies recruit experts from other industry sectors to upgrade their existing businesses to optimize new businesses that are difficult to be imitated and help companies gain hybrid advantages.(2)Combining ability is the internal factor driving the enterprise to build a cross industry alliance portfolio,and it is also the ability of the focus enterprise to obtain the innovation performance improvement by the cross-industry alliance portfolio.This study introduces the concept of “combining ability”,a concept of biogenetics,into enterprise gene theory,and defines it as “the ability of an enterprise to effectively mutate its genes and obtain hybrid advantages in the process of cross-industry collaboration,that is,the company has the ability to reorganize,strengthen,and change its corporate genes with the help of outside industry(enterprise or expert).According to the vertical development process of the case enterprises,the research further summarizes the three sub-dimensions of “combining ability”: cross-border planning ability,organizational coordination ability and creative ability.As the scale of the cross-industry alliance portfolio increases and the diversity of its member increases,the focus companies will generate additional management tasks in the process of organizing and coordinating them.In other words,companies need to systematically manage the cross-industry alliance portfolio from a holistic perspective.On the one hand,the focus enterprises need to identify,reorganize and commercialize the large number of different capability elements in the cross-industry alliance portfolio;on the other hand,the focus enterprises need to be based on the overall cross-industry alliance network,adjusting from a global and combined perspective.The cultural conflicts,conflicts of interest and resource competition among various cross-industry collaborations and giving full play to the synergy in the cross-industry alliance portfolio.Therefore,in order to build a high-performance cross-industry alliance portfolio,companies must have the super ability to develop and manage several external cross-industry collaborations,namely,“combining ability”.(3)The construction of a high innovation performance cross-industry alliance portfolio is a dynamic process.The study found that enterprises should flexibly choose different cross-industry innovation models based on the level of combining ability and cross-border experience and gain cross-border capabilities in the process of innovation.Thus,it is forming a “capability-innovation model-environmental change” route in the long dynamic evolution process.From the simpler transaction-type capability essence restructuring with other enterprises,to the more advanced "transaction-type capability essence + knowledge-based capability essence" restructuring,and finally evolving into the capability essence variation model with the highest combining ability.In this process,the innovation task of the enterprise is more and more complicated,and the business and knowledge of the enterprise and the external enterprise(enterprise or expert)are more and more integrated,and the requirements for the enterprise's own experience and technology accumulation are getting higher and higher.The hybrid advantages acquired by companies are also increasingly difficult and imitated.(4)With the positive adjustment of external environmental characteristics(competitive environment),enterprises are more willing to build a larger and more diversified alliance of cross industry alliance portfolio based on their combining ability.When the enterprise is in an environment with low competitive pressure,there are more market opportunities and the system pressure is smaller,so the focus enterprise is in a relatively stable and predictable development environment,which can reduces the dependence of the focus enterprises on the development opportunities outside the industry.The motives for further expanding the number and diversity of collaboration partners in the industry alliance portfolio are largely weakened and it may even become the burden of the focus enterprise due to the increasing corporate attention and management costs.On the contrary,when the competition environment is less accommodative,the development opportunities of focus enterprises from the environment is limited.Therefore,it is urgent to establish cooperative relations with enterprises with heterogeneous resources outside the industry to explore new development paths.As a result,companies are bound to further build their cross-industry alliance portfolio,expand the portfolio size and further enhance the diversity of cross-industry alliance portfolio,and ultimately enhance their corporate innovation performance. |
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