Optimization of Inter-enterprises Collaborative Innovation Networks for Structural Holes: Taking China’s Communication Terminal Industry as an Example

Abstract

AbstractStudying the analysis and optimization of collaborative innovation networks between enterprises from the perspective of structural holes will help enterprises and industries improve resource allocation efficiency and reduce the cost of innovative actions to cope with the increasingly complex technology and increasingly competitive environment. This paper makes use of the joint application patent data of 295 enterprises in China’s communication industry from 2003 to 2017, and uses social network analysis method to gradually deconstruct the entire network and identify key nodes, which fits the overall-local-individual research logic. Specifically, the methods include the overall level of the centrality and density, local-level of block models and image matrix, and individual-level of structural hole ordering. The main findings are as follows: (1) The network is characterized by an overall non-stable structure with a small concentration of cores and a large number of loose externalities. (2) Some core groups have important coordination and communication roles, while marginal groups are weakly connected with the outside world and internal linkages are loose. (3) State Grid Corporation, China Mobile Communications Group, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and other enterprises bear an important intermediary role. Finally, on the basis of previous research, the optimization principle is identified, six universal optimization paths are proposed, and three key intermediaries are used for verification and interpretation to prove the feasibility of the optimization path.KeywordsCollaborative innovation networkStructural holeBlock modelNetwork optimizationCommunication terminal