The best spatial scale of firm innovation networks: Evidence from Shanghai high‐tech firms

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 696-711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianzhong Cao ◽  
Gang Zeng ◽  
Tangwei Teng ◽  
Yuefang Si
2019 ◽  
Vol 119 (8) ◽  
pp. 1638-1654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gang Fang ◽  
Qing Zhou ◽  
Jian Wu ◽  
Xiaoguang Qi

Purpose Innovation networks provide an efficient mechanism for organizations to realize their potential for knowledge learning and innovation improvement. Firms situated within innovation networks require specific abilities to acquire the knowledge and the complementary assets that facilitate their innovation performance. Motivated by recent research studies in the area of social network and RBV, the purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of the precise manner in which network capability affects a firm’s innovation performance. Design/methodology/approach Based on the data obtained from Chinese high-tech firms, the hypotheses are tested by using hierarchical multiple regressions. Findings This study identifies two types of network capabilities: network structural capability and network relational capability. The findings suggest that network structural capability has a greater positive impact on innovation performance than network relational capability does within an exploration-orientated network. However, network relational capability is more positively associated with innovation performance within an exploitation-orientated network. Practical implications A firm can enhance the value of its ego network by shaping and adjusting network configurations, rather than by passively reaping the benefits from existing relationships or ties with partners. Originality/value This paper contributes to strategic management theory and social network theory by illustrating how a networked firm can enable network value and appropriate this value according to its strategic purposes and by suggesting that a firm can improve its ego network’s value through exerting its network capabilities to shape and adjust network configurations. This paper also advances the contingent approach within social network research by offering a new complementary perspective and new evidence from a Chinese context.


1998 ◽  
Vol 02 (02) ◽  
pp. 223-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Conway ◽  
Fred Steward

This paper outlines a detailed and systematic method for revealing and mapping out the network mobilised in the development of a discrete innovation. This is termed a focal action-set. Important to the utility of this approach has been the development of a set of conventions for the graphical expression of the network and its components: actors, links and flows. It is argued that the network graphic provides a powerful, though under-utilised, tool for the representation of relational data. It may be employed, for example, to reveal variations in network configuration and to highlight key networking or boundary-spanning actors. The network mapping approach is illustrated through three cases of small firm innovation drawn from a wider investigation of award-winning technological innovations. A comparison between the network maps show a variation in the key boundary-spanning interactions, which is related to the organisational background of the entrepreneurial actor.


2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 897-926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrizia Sarto ◽  
Sara Saggese ◽  
Riccardo Viganò ◽  
Marianna Mauro

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the implications of board human capital heterogeneity for company innovation by focusing on the educational and the functional background of directors. Moreover, it examines the moderating effect of the CEO expertise-overlap within the innovation domain on the relationship between board human capital heterogeneity and firm innovation. Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses are tested through a set of ordinary least squares regressions on a unique dataset of 149 Italian high-tech companies observed between 2012 and 2015. Findings Findings show that the educational and the functional background heterogeneity of directors increase both the innovation input and output. However, results highlight that these relationships are negatively moderated by the CEO expertise-overlap within the innovation domain. Practical implications The paper emphasizes the importance of appointing directors with different and specific educational and functional backgrounds to foster the company innovation. Originality/value The paper fills a gap in the literature as it has devoted limited attention to the performance implications of board human capital heterogeneity in the high-tech industry where knowledge and skills are the primary sources of value. Moreover, the paper integrates the research on the CEO-board interface by shedding light on how the CEO expertise within the innovation domain affects the contribution of heterogeneous boards to company innovation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 895-913
Author(s):  
Shuangying Chen ◽  
Feng Fu ◽  
Tingting Xiang ◽  
Junli Zeng

Purpose Extant research on the crowding-out effects of government subsidies on the positive role of firm innovation resources or activity remains limited. This paper aims to investigate the crowding-out effects of subsidies on the utilization of technological capabilities and also the contingency mechanisms of market-oriented economy based on the resource-based view (RBV), given the co-existence of the subsidies and technological capabilities for firm innovation in transitional economy. Design/methodology/approach This paper used panel data of 115 Chinese high-tech firms from 2002 to 2010. Fixed-effects model was used to test several hypotheses. Findings This paper empirically demonstrates that the subsidies crowd out the utilization of firms’ technological capabilities for invention outcomes in the near-term. Furthermore, this paper finds that the crowding-out effects are weaker when firms have high export intensity or are located in provinces with high market-oriented systems. Research limitations/implications The findings of this paper apply to Chinese firms. Future research could test their generalizability to different samples and other transitional economies. Practical implications This paper highlights the crowding-out effects of the subsidies, revealing that high-tech firms should balance the direct effects and crowding-out effects of the subsidies. Originality/value This paper highlights the neglected interactions between the subsidies and technological capabilities based on RBV and provides a more nuanced understanding of the crowding-out effects of the subsidies in transitional economy.


2022 ◽  
Vol 142 ◽  
pp. 620-635
Author(s):  
Manjot S. Bhussar ◽  
Jennifer C. Sexton ◽  
Michelle L. Zorn ◽  
Yue Song
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
N. Lapina

The author eexamines the policy initiated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and aimed at the development of innovation. This policy is reflected by the support of high-tech industries, by the creation of scientific-industrial clusters, by the development of regional innovation networks, by upgrading of higher education and scientific research. Altogether it is to raise the France’s competitive force and to turn it into one of the leading powers of the world.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guiyang Zhang ◽  
Chaoying Tang ◽  
Yong Qi

Innovation ambidexterity, namely, performing exploitative and exploratory innovation simultaneously, is important for high-tech firms to achieve sustainable success. This can be achieved by building an egocentric alliance network. Research into the influence of alliance network diversity on innovation ambidexterity is seeing more attention. However, the differences among multiple alliance network diversities are unclear. Grounded on a knowledge-based view, organizational learning theory, and transaction cost theory, this study investigates in-depth the roles of geographical diversity, industrial diversity, and functional diversity of the alliance network. The empirical analysis based on panel data, including alliance data from the SDC Joint & Venture database and patent data from the Derwent Innovation Index database of 106 top high-tech firms from electronic information and biopharmaceutical industries, suggests that industrial diversity enhances firm innovation ambidexterity, geographical diversity impedes firm innovation ambidexterity, and functional diversity shows an inverted U-shaped relationship with firm innovation ambidexterity. These results provide practical suggestions about alliance network diversity configuration and innovation ambidexterity construction for high-tech firms.


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