Study On The Stability Of A Technology Alliance Based On Knowledge-flow

In a technology alliance,each member is regarded as a subject,which has the ability of independent judgment and behavior.Each member will modify his own behavior rules according to that of the others and environmental changes,which can lead to technology alliance instability.The development of Chinese technology alliances is still weak,and so is the research on "technology alliance".In particular,the attendant instability of technology alliances requires the guidance of theory and practice.A technology alliance is a knowledge network,and the existing research on knowledge network,mainly through economics or management theory with few references to other disciplines,analyzesd regional networks or entrepreneur networks,etc.The study on the structure and evolution model of knowledge network is only scattered in physics,dynamic system,complex network and other fields.Therefore,it is necessary to explore the factors influencing the evolution and stability of a technology alliance systematically by means of interdisciplinary theory.Next,it is difficult to quantify knowledge inventory in a knowledge network,so there were few studies that measured the change of knowledge-flow.Third,although scholars have explored the affecting factors and the relative mechanisms of action on alliance stability,few studies are based on longitudinal data of time series to analyze the dynamic continuous interaction of members.Based on Markova chain theory and others,this paper studies knowkedge-flow's action mechanisms on the stability of a technology alliance and make the longitudinal comparative analysis through time series data based on social network theory,explores factors like knowledge-flow's potential gap,integration attributes and others empirically.This study defines the theory framework and researches knowkedge-flow's mechanisms of action on technology alliance stability,including the analysis of knowledge-flow's potential gap,integration attributes,cooperation memory and organization sources.A two-stage game model is established to discuss the benefit distribution of members with different capabilities;from the perspective of contract theory,the decision behavior of members under different alignment attributes is judged;based on Boltzmann and Darwinian strategy,impact of the knowledgeflow's cooperation memory on searches of partners is analyzes;and according to Markova chain,the organization types of the members is studied to control new entrants and keep the stability of a technology alliance.Under the effect of knowledge-flow,the technology alliance stability will evolve.Then,this study uses the AVS technology alliance as a case,according to the behavior trends of the organizations joining the technology alliance construct AVS's bivariate network,and with the data from the three periods evaluate the stability evolution by comparing centrality,consensus,structural hole and connectedness results.First,we use centrality analysis to compare the technology communication levels of the alliance's members during each period.Second,consensus analysis is used to reveal the magnitude of differences between the members' contributions.Third,structural hole analysis can expose the power structure.Finally,connectedness analysis shows the vulnerability of the relationships within the network.After analyzing the evolution of the AVS technology alliance,the influencing factors of its evolution are further analyzed.Hypotheses are developed based on current research and an empirical study was carried out to testify the hypotheses.The members' relationship matrix in terms of knowledge-flow's potential gap,integration attributes,cooperation memory and organization sources were described according to the public information on the website.The relationship between influence factors and members' cooperation trends are analyzed with correlation and regression analysis by UCINET.In the former stage,the combination of the stronger and the weaker members,the mutual complementarity between members and the previous cooperation experience have positive correlation with the members' active participation,which leads to the stable operation of the technology alliance.From the influence of various factors,the regression model from knowledge-flow' organization resources fit well and the model about factors such as potential gap,integration attributes and cooperation memory can also explain the stability of the technology alliance well.In the latter stage of the development of AVS,members with equal capabilities are likely to form an alliance.Competitive cooperation is positively correlated with the stability of the technical alliance and the significance is better than the former stage.And it is obviously proved that the cooperation experience of the subjects of knowledge-flow is related to their continuous cooperation.From the influence of various factors on the stability of the technology alliance,the fit of regression model from knowledge-flow' organization resources are not significant,while the model about factors such as factors potential gap,integration attributes and cooperation memory can explain the stability of the technology alliance better.To the stability of AVS technology alliance,some suggestions are provided.The perspective of alliance stability research is further replenished here based on knowledge-flow;social network theory is applied and the analysis dimension of stability of technical alliance is expanded;the driving factors of partner selection are discussed,and the theory of external innovation searching is enriched.The results are also helpful for the development of a stable technology alliance,can enhance the R&D capability of the industry generic technology,are beneficial to create a good internal trustful environment,thus building a competitive advantage of a technology alliance.The knowledge of each member gets mutual promotion and coordinated development so that the progress in the technology alliance is realized,and the knowledge evolution of the external environment system of the alliance is also promoted effectively.