Abstract

This study aims to examine the strategic alliance portfolio and the characters of focal firm partners in the eco-friendly car market, and also suggest the important managerial implications and suggestions for firms’ managers and policy-makers using the patent information of Toyota and Hyundai as examples. This study identifies the fundamental differences in Hyundai’s strategic partnerships through the comparison with Toyota’s alliance portfolio. This study analyzes the configuration of alliance portfolio using the patent citation information and various patent citation indexes. Many previous studies use patent citation information to analyze the flow of technological knowledge and the relative importance of the technology that companies produce (Hall, Jaffe, & Trajtenberg, 2005). Patents contain a lot of information, which researchers use to derive multiple properties related to technological innovation or technological excellence (Ernst, 2003). Especially, the Current Impact Index (CII), the Technology Strength (TS), the Technology Independence (TI) and the Science Linkage mean the technological innovation of companies (Chang, Chen, & Huang, 2012; Z. Huang et al., 2003; Sung, Wang, Huang, & Chen, 2015). The paper employs patent data for collection of partnership data for both Hyundai and Toyota using joint patent filings, and the alliance portfolios are configured by using co-assignees as partners. In addition, we use patent citation indexes to analyze the relationship between firms’ technological alliance and innovation capability. The results of this study show that; 1) Toyota is actively developing joint R&D activities but, Hyundai is not. Because of this, Toyota has the advantageous position to obtain knowledge and technology than Hyundai due to the high centrality in alliance portfolio. 2) The alliance portfolio of Toyota and Hyundai can be categorized four groups by the degree of collaboration and patent quality. 3) There are differences in the properties of four groups of Toyota’s alliance portfolio and Hyundai’s alliance portfolio. This study has several limitations. First, patent information indicates only the cross-section of the company’s innovation. Second, joint patents are not the only outcome of joint R&D, and comprise only a very small part of the output from joint R&D activities. In spite of these limitations, the findings suggest how firms can catch up to access the automotive bioplastic market, and offers contributions to theories related to portfolios.

Highlights

  • In recent years, the car material industry rapidly changes from petroleum-based to biomass-based materials to solve global environmental problems and natural resource depletion, including petroleum (European Bioplastics 2015; Harris 2011)

  • Joint patents are not the only outcome of joint R&D, and comprise only a very small part of the output from joint R&D activities. In spite of these limitations, the findings suggest how firms can catch up to access the automotive bioplastic market, and offers contributions to theories related to portfolios

  • This study aims to fill the gap in the literature related to leading companies and fast-followers by analyzing their alliance portfolio in the automotive bioplastic domain and contribute to the theoretical research on R&D collaborations using the case of Toyota and Hyundai

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Summary

Introduction

The car material industry rapidly changes from petroleum-based to biomass-based materials to solve global environmental problems and natural resource depletion, including petroleum (European Bioplastics 2015; Harris 2011). The collaborative innovation network of focal firms like Toyota and Hyundai is an alliance portfolio (Duysters et al 1999; Hoffmann 2007; Kim et al 2012). This study investigates the dynamics of strategic innovative network in the Asian eco-friendly car market and shows the configuration of an alliance portfolio to access this market using Toyota and Hyundai as examples. This study aims to fill the gap in the literature related to leading companies and fast-followers by analyzing their alliance portfolio in the automotive bioplastic domain and contribute to the theoretical research on R&D collaborations using the case of Toyota and Hyundai. This study shows the difference in the alliance portfolio of the leading company (Toyota) and the fast-follower (Hyundai). Because alliance portfolio reveals information to competitors focusing on a similar technology domain as the focal firm, the analysis of a firm’s alliance portfolio is very important

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