Despite increasing attention to the role of diverse alliances in emerging market, few studies have explicitly explored the roles of environment and network position on diverse R&D alliances. This study investigates how environment and network position interact with diverse R&D alliances to affect firm innovation performance. Specifically, we examine the moderating effects of technology uncertainty, market uncertainty, network centrality position and competitive intensity. The findings from a survey of 144 biotechnology firms indicate that diverse R&D alliances have a positive effect on firms’ innovation performance, and these effects are moderated by environmental factors and alliance network position. The overall R&D alliance network was also examined to understand a broad variety of collaboration patterns of emerging biotechnology firms.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbbasiA.AltmannJ. & HossainL. (2011). Identifying the effects of co-authorship networks on the performance of scholars: A correlation and regression analysis of performance measures and social network analysis measures. Journal of Informetrics, 5(4), 594–607.
2.
AghionP.HarrisC.HowittP. & VickersJ. (2001). Competition, imitation and growth with step-by-step innovation. Review of Economic Studies, 68(1), 467–492.
3.
AhujaG. (2000). The duality of collaboration: Inducements and opportunities in the formation of interfirm linkages. Strategic Management Journal, 21(3), 317–343.
4.
AngS. H. (2008). Competitive intensity and collaboration: Impact on firm growth across technological environments. Strategic Management Journal, 29(10), 1057–1075.
5.
Atuahene-GimaK. & LiH. (2004). Strategic decision comprehensiveness and new product development outcomes in new technology ventures. Academy of Management Journal, 47(4), 583– 597.
6.
BaumJ. A. C.CalabreseT. & SilvermanB. S. (2000). Don’t go it alone: Alliance network composition and startups’ performance in Canadian biotechnology. Strategic Management Journal, 21(3), 267–294.
7.
BeckmanC.HaunschildP. R. & PhillipsD. J. (2004). Friends or strangers? Firm-specific, market uncertainty, and network partner selection. Organization Science, 15(3), 259–275.
8.
BonacichP. (1987). Power and centrality: a family of measures. American Journal of Sociology, 92(5), 1170–1182.
9.
BorgattiS. P. (2005). Centrality and network f low. Social Networks, 27(1), 55–71.
10.
BorgattiS. P.EverettM. G. & FreemanL. C. (2002). Ucinet for Windows: Software for social network analysis. Harvard, MA: Analytic Technologies.
11.
BurgersW. P.HillC. W. L. & KimW. C. (1993). A theory of global strategic alliances: The case of the global auto industry. Strategic Management Journal, 14(6), 419–432.
12.
ColemanJ. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 95–120.
13.
DozY. L. (1996). The evolution of cooperation in strategic alliances. Strategic Management Journal, 17(S1), 55–83.
14.
DuJ.LuJ. & GuoY. (2015). Relationship between technological diversification of social network and technological innovation performance. Science, Technology & Society, 20(1), 60–88.
15.
GrilichesZ. (1990). Patent statistics as economic indicators: A survey. Journal of Economic Literature, 28(4), 1661–1707.
16.
GulatiR. & GargiuloM. (1999). Where do interorganizational networks come from?American Journal of Sociology, 104(5), 1439–1493.
17.
HagedoornJ. & CloodtM. (2003). Measuring innovative performance: is there an advantage in using multiple indicators?Research Policy32(8), 1365–1379.
18.
HoangH. & RothaermelF. T. (2005). The effect of general and partner-specific alliance experience on joint R&D project performance. Academy of Management Journal, 48(2), 332–345.
19.
InkpenA. C. & TsangW. K. (2005). Social capital, networks, and knowledge transfer. Academy Management Review, 30(1), 146–165.
20.
IrelandR. D.HittM. A. & VaidyanathD. (2002). Alliance management as a source of competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 28(3), 413–446.
21.
JacqueminA. P. & BerryC. H. (1979). Entropy measure of diversification and corporate growth. Journal of Industrial Economics, 27(4), 359–369.
22.
JaworskiB. J. & KohliA. K. (1993). Market orientation: Antecedents and consequences. Journal of Marketing, 57(3), 53–70.
23.
KandemirD.YaprakA. & CavusgilS. T. (2006). Alliance orientation: Conceptualization, measurement, and impact on market performance. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34(3), 324–340.
LambertD. (1992). Zero-inf lated Poisson regression, with an application to random defects in manufacturing. Technometrics, 34(1), 1–14.
26.
LeydesdorffL. & IvanovaI. (2016). ‘Open innovation’ and ‘triple helix’ models of innovation. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 2(1), 1–12.
27.
MitsuhashiH. & GreveH. R. (2009). A matching theory of alliance formation and organizational success: Complementarity and compatibility. Academy of Management Journal, 52(5), 975–995.
28.
ØstrgaardC. R.TimmermansB. & KristinssonK. (2011). Does a different view create something new? The effect of employee diversity on innovation. Research Policy, 40(3), 500–509.
29.
PatraK. & KrishnaV. (2015). Globalization of R&D and open innovation. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market & Complexity, 1(1), 1–24.
30.
PfefferJ. & SalancikG. R. (1978). The external control of organizations: A resources dependence perspective. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
31.
PowellW. W.KoputK. W. & Smith-DoerrL. (1996). Interorganizational collaboration and the locus of innovation: Networks of learning in biotechnology. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41(1), 116–145.
32.
RogersE. M. (1995). Diffusion of innovations (4th ed.). New York, NY: Free Press.
33.
RoijakkersN. & HagedoornJ. (2006). Inter-firm R&D partnering in pharmaceutical biotechnology since 1975: Trends, patterns, and networks. Research Policy, 35(3), 431–446.
34.
RowleyT.BehrensD. & KrackhardtD. (2000). Redundant governance structures: An analysis of structural and relational embeddedness in the steel and semiconductor industries. Strategic Management Journal, 21, 369–386.
35.
SampsonR. V. (2007). R&D alliances and firm performance: The impact of technological diversity and alliance organization on innovation. Academy of Management Journal, 50(2), 364–386.
36.
SanouF. H.Le RoyF. & GnyawaliD. R. (2016). How does centrality in coopetition networks matter?British Journal of Management, 27(1), 143–160.
37.
StamW. & ElfringT. (2008). Entrepreneurial orientation and new venture performance: The moderating role of intra-and extraindustry social capital. Academy of Management Journal, 51(1), 97–111.
38.
TsaiW. (2001). Knowledge transfer in intra-organizational networks: Effects of network position and absorptive capacity on business unit innovation and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 44(5), 996–1004.
39.
UzziB. (1997). Social structure and competition in interfirm network: The paradox of embeddedness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42(1), 35–67.
40.
WangC. & ChienP. (2013). Exploring the nanotechnology alliances of nanotechnology firms. Science, Technology, & Society, 18(2), 139–164.
41.
WassermanS. & FaustK. (1994). Social network analysis: Methods and applications. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
42.
WuJ. (2012). Technological collaboration in product innovation: The role of market competition and sectoral technological intensity. Research Policy, 41(2), 489–496.
43.
YunJ.WonD. & ParkK. (2016). Dynamics from open innovation to evolutionary change. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 2(7), 1–22.
44.
YunJ.YangJ. & ParkK. (2016). Open innovation to business model. Science, Technology & Society21(3), 1–25.
45.
ZahraS. A.IrelandR. D. & HittM. A. (2000). International expansion by new venture firms: International diversity, mode of market entry, technological learning, and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 43(5), 925–950.
