External Knowledge Acquisition Research Articles

The choice and acquisition of external knowledge in startups: matching improvisation to strategic flexibility

PurposeAlthough knowledge has become a decisive factor in the development of firms, there has been no detailed investigation into how start-ups acquire external knowledge. In order to narrow the research gap, this paper attempts to explore the mechanism of acquiring external knowledge in start-ups from the perspective of “environment–[sic.] structure” interaction.Design/methodology/approachThis research develops a conceptual model regarding improvisation as an independent variable, strategic flexibility as a mediator, knowledge acquisition as the dependent variable and environmental mutation as a moderator between improvisation and strategic flexibility. Furthermore, this study collects the survey data from 277 firms and uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to empirically test the model and hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that creativity-bricolage and spontaneity-persistence have significantly positive effects on both capability flexibility and coordination flexibility. However, the positive effects of pressure-stress on capability flexibility and coordination flexibility are not supported. Meanwhile, the mediating roles of capability flexibility and coordination flexibility are supported. Finally, environmental mutation only positively moderates the relationship between creativity-bricolage and capability flexibility.Originality/valueImprovisation can be seen as a core antecedent for start-ups to acquire external knowledge in environmental mutation. More specifically, the significant mediator is strategic flexibility to promote the relationship between improvisation and knowledge acquisition. The findings provide practical inspiration for start-ups to effectively utilize improvisation in emergencies.

Interplay of External and Internal Knowledge: Business Model Innovation Analysis in Chinese Publicly Traded Film Companies

The application of business model innovation (BMI) generally creates more competent and flexible enterprises in changeable markets and helps to achieve competitive advantages. Especially in a post-pandemic age, BMI has a particular significance. As such, in this study, based on the resource-based view theory, we aimed to explore how Chinese publicly traded film companies apply BMI from the perspective of the interplay of external and internal knowledge acquisition. Our focus was examining the influence of the search for external knowledge and the creation of internal knowledge on the BMI of Chinese film companies. On the basis of interviews and field observation, we selected environmental volatility and management attention as the independent variables in the study model. We analyzed the data collected from 36 Chinese publicly traded film companies by correlation and regression. The results showed that external knowledge search and internal knowledge creation substantially influenced the BMI of Chinese film companies. In addition, environmental volatility and management attention positively influenced BMI. The findings provide practical information motivating Chinese publicly traded film companies to apply BMI in the post-pandemic era.

Multi-level antecedents of public sector innovation? An ethnography of a large UK postal services organization

Abstract This paper examines professional and organizational-level antecedents of public sector innovation using findings from a 9-month ethnography conducted within the marketing department of a large UK postal organization. The analysis centres on vignettes of two cross-functional projects to develop product and service innovations that involved external design agencies. The data are based on observation of the marketing teams, semi-structured interviews, and documentary analysis. The study highlights that social practices characteristic of communities of practice are antecedent to the generation of absorptive capacity, but also shows that the learning produced by communities of practice is mediated by relations of power associated with these groups and interaction with organizational absorptive capacity. This paper develops the theory of absorptive capacity by shifting attention away from ‘prior knowledge’ in enabling acquisition of external knowledge to highlighting the role of intensive interaction, organizational context, and power relations in shaping knowledge creation for learning and innovation.

Enhancing external knowledge search: The influence of performance measurement system design on the absorptive capacity of top management teams

External knowledge search is critical for innovation performance and centers on a firm's absorptive capacity. This study investigates whether and how two dimensions of absorptive capacity at the top management team (TMT) level, potential absorptive capacity and realized absorptive capacity, are influenced by two design choices of the performance measurement system (PMS), broad scope PMS and PMS integration, under different conditions of environmental dynamism. Based on cross-sectional survey data from firms in innovative industries, the results of our empirical study indicate that in more dynamic environments, a broader scope PMS is associated with higher potential absorptive capacity whereas higher PMS integration is associated with lower potential absorptive capacity. These associations are not observable in more stable environments. Moreover, broad scope PMS and PMS integration are both positively associated with realized absorptive capacity, independently of environmental dynamism. These findings highlight the relevance of PMS design choices for absorptive capacity, showing on the one hand the differences between the implications of broad scope PMS and those of PMS integration and, on the other hand, that the implications of PMS design choices for potential absorptive capacity (i.e. acquisition and assimilation of external knowledge) follow different patterns than the implications for realized absorptive capacity (i.e. the transformation and exploitation of such knowledge).

How to Benefit from Balancing External Knowledge Acquisition? A Chinese EIT Industry Case

This paper develops an integrated framework and examines how the implicit property-knowledge heterogeneity, acquisition costs and interactivity embedded in external knowledge acquisition (EKA) affect firms’ innovation performance. This is done by distinguishing three forms of EKA, including patent backward citations, patent collaboration and patent purchase. This research contributes to the existing EKA and open innovation literatures by studying whether EKA and internal R&D serve as substitutes or complements for firms’ innovation performance. Using a sample of 77 publicly listed firms in the electronic and information technology (EIT) industries of mainland China, with panel data collected from 2004 to 2016, this study has reached the following new findings: First, EKA both through patent backward citations and patent collaboration have significantly positive effects on firms’ innovation performance; the effect of patent purchase is not significant. Second, EKA through patent backward citations complements firms’ internal R&D, but EKA both through patent collaboration and patent purchase act as substitutes for internal R&D. Third, an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between the level of balance among the three different forms of EKA and firms’ innovation performance. Finally, contingent interaction effects exist between the level of balance among the three different forms of EKA and internal R&D on firms’ innovation performance. A complementary relationship exists with the internal R&D when firms have a high level of balance among three different forms of EKA. However, a substitution relationship exists with the internal R&D when firms have a low level of balance among the three different forms of EKA.

International and domestic external knowledge in the innovation performance of firms from transition economies: The role of institutions

In this study, we analyze how the acquisition of domestic and international external knowledge contributes to the innovation performance of firms in transition economies and how the institutional conditions of the home country may affect these relations. We test our hypotheses via the responses of 645 firms from 18 Central and Eastern European countries. Our findings show that both external knowledge sources—domestic and international—contribute positively to the number of new products in transition economies. Our results also indicate that a country's governance imperfections positively moderate the relations between both domestic and international external knowledge and the number of new products. Additionally, our findings highlight that the benefits of international external knowledge for product innovation are greater in contexts with weaker institutional conditions than in environments with stronger institutional conditions. In contrast, the benefits of domestic external knowledge for product innovation do not vary substantially between scenarios with stronger institutional conditions and those with weaker ones. These findings lead us to conclude that the institutional conditions of transition economies moderate the relation between domestic and international external knowledge and innovation performance differently, with international external knowledge proving particularly valuable for product innovation when these conditions are weak.

Family farm succession: evidence from absorptive capacity, social capital, and socioeconomic aspects

Abstract Farm succession is a process socially built from the preparation of the successor and the farm to meet a family business’ expectations. This study aimed to identify how social capital, absorptive capacity, and socioeconomic characteristics influence farm succession. The survey was conducted sampling 82 soybean and corn Brazilian farmers. The questionnaire measured socioeconomic characteristics, Absorptive Capacity (AC), and Social Capital (SC). To test the influence of AC, SC, and socioeconomic characteristics on farm succession, Spearman correlation coefficient (rs) was performed. Results showed that the absorptive capacity can influence farm succession through acquisition, assimilation, use, and transformation of external knowledge into decision making, supporting the definition of successors. Results also suggested that social capital plays an important role to form relationship networks, stimulating discussions, and supporting the designation of successors. The socioeconomic characteristics ‘percentage of family income from the farm, participation in courses and lectures, and being a cooperatives member’ also presented a significant positive correlation with farm succession. Issues related to the capacity to absorb external knowledge, social and symbolic capital and generational transference can be fundamental in the continuity of the family farming business.

АНАЛІЗ ТА ТЕНДЕНЦІЇ РОЗВИТКУ ІННОВАЦІЙНОЇ АКТИВНОСТІ ПРОМИСЛОВИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ У ІВАНО-ФРАНКІВСЬКІЙ ОБЛАСТІ

The article is devoted to topical issues of innovation development of industrial enterprises in Ivano-Frankivsk region. An analysis of their innovation activity, which is characterized by indicators of implemented innovations, quantitative indicators of innovative products and the volume of their sales. It was also analyzed that the number of operating entities in Ivano-Frankivsk region tended to decrease, as well as the number of innovative enterprises. It is noted that in the vast majority of innovative enterprises of the region made investments in internal research and development, purchase of machinery, equipment and software, other investments, as well as insignificant investments in the acquisition of other external knowledge. Investments in external research were very small, while domestic research and investment in other areas were slightly higher, but had an uneven trend. The largest share of investments was the purchase of machinery, equipment and software. The main indicators of innovation activity of industrial enterprises of Ivano-Frankivsk region are analyzed. It is determined that the main source of funding for innovation is the own funds of enterprises, and the most significant expenditures on innovation activities were made by enterprises for the production of chemicals and chemical products. The interregional innovation activity of enterprises in the regions of Ukraine is studied. Positive dynamics in the region are enterprises that implement new technological processes in production. The number of new or significantly low-waste resource-saving processes introduced into production has a steady upward trend throughout the study period. The main factors hindering the development of investment and innovation activities in the region are instability dependence on organizational changes at the governmental level; lack of competitive advantages in attracting foreign investment due to high tax rates; low purchasing power of the population and the factor of public distrust; increased competition from foreign manufacturers and insufficient competence of specialists to ensure the success of investment and innovation activities.

The role of knowledge creation, absorption and acquisition in determining national competitive advantage

Knowledge has been considered a key factor in countries’ catch-up of competitive advantage. However, few studies have deeply analyzed the complex interaction effect of internal technological capabilities and external knowledge acquisition, and the influence of the institutional environment is often ignored. In this paper, we integrate the knowledge-based view with both the new growth theory and the institution-based view, empirically test the validity of our competitive theoretical framework using the panel data of 29 developing countries and 32 developed countries from 1995 to 2018. The results show that, in countries at different stages of development, internal technological capabilities (knowledge creation capability and knowledge absorption capability) and external knowledge acquisition (external technological knowledge and market information knowledge) have different mechanisms of action, constraints and interaction effects. The findings suggest that countries need to make different catch-up strategies according to their stage of national development.

Implementing Big Data Analytics in Marketing Departments: Mixing Organic and Administered Approaches to Increase Data-Driven Decision Making

This study examines the experience of marketing departments to become fully data-driven decision-making organizations. We evaluate an organic approach of departmental sensemaking and an administered approach by which top management increase the influence of analytics skilled employees. Data collection commenced with 15 depth interviews of marketing and analytics professionals in the US and Europe involved in the implementation of big data analytics (BDA) and was followed by a survey data of 298 marketing and analytics middle management professionals at United States based firms. The survey data supports the logic that BDA sensemaking is initiated by top management and is comprised of four primary activities: external knowledge acquisition, improving digitized data quality, big data analytics experimentation and big data analytics information dissemination. Top management drives progress toward data-driven decision-making by facilitating sensemaking and by increasing the influence of BDA skilled employees. This study suggests that while a shift toward enterprise analytics increases the quality of resource available to the marketing department, this approach could stymie the quality of marketing insights gained from BDA. This study presents a model of how to improve the quality of marketing insights and improve data-driven decision-making.

외부지식이 제품혁신에 미치는 영향: 지식학습과 탐색방법의 상호작용을 중심으로

This study examines how the external knowledge affects innovation. We categorize firms’ external knowledge sources into two modes: STI(science-technology-innovation) and DUI(doing-using-interacting). At the same time, we distinguish between the breadth and depth of firms’ external knowledge acquisition strategies, while considering the interaction between the knowledge source and the acquisition strategy. Previous studies have considered the source and the acquisition strategy of external knowledge independently. Thus, in order to fill this gap in the literature, we identify two types of external knowledge, each with its own searching mode, suggesting a 2 × 2 acquisition strategy model of external knowledge.

Learning by doing: Knowledge acquisition and Middle Managers’ Dynamic Capabilities

Companies are pushed in looking for more sources of external knowledge as a source of competitive advantage. One of these sources is universities with whose companies engage by performing Open Innovation strategies. Accordingly, this paper examines how OI environments, such as university-industry consortia, intervene in reducing managers’ external knowledge acquisition barriers by improving their dynamic capabilities. The research is based on a longitudinal study case to observe how managers interact within a university-led consortium. The study has been conducted within the Strategic and Technology Innovation Management Consortium of the University of Cambridge. Data have been collected via interviews, documents, and ethnographic observations in the company and seven consortium meetings in 2019 and 2020. The observations and the data collected supported the idea that managers’ interactions with scholars and other managers stimulate the absorption of relevant information that triggers their dynamic capabilities. Precisely, exploring theoretical approaches and learning from others’ practical experiences sharpens managers’ abilities to identify appropriate sources of knowledge, adopt innovative solutions in different contexts, and gain adequate skills to transfer the knowledge developed within the consortium internally.

How firms accumulate knowledge to innovate – an empirical study of Vietnamese firms

PurposeOrganizational innovations are closely associated with organizational knowledge, and thus a firm builds its knowledge base to enhance its innovative performance. However, insights into this process are still limited, especially in the context of firms in developing countries. Building on the dynamic managerial capabilities literature and open innovation paradigm, this paper attempts to fill this gap by developing and empirically testing a model that investigates how firms in developing countries accumulate knowledge to innovate.Design/methodology/approachA model of a firm's knowledge accumulation and innovation is proposed in which it specifies relationships among absorptive capacity, knowledge breadth, research and development (R&D), knowledge depth, exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation, and then it is empirically tested by using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique based on the surveyed data of Vietnamese firms.FindingsThe results indicate that absorptive capacity positively influences both knowledge breadth and knowledge depth, knowledge breadth positively influences R&D, R&D positively influences exploratory innovation and knowledge depth, and knowledge depth positively influences exploratory and exploitative innovation.Practical implicationsThe study proposes an “acquire and develop” open innovation model for firms in developing countries in which firms acquire external technologies and then develop R&D (develop and design) capability to adapt acquired technologies to their local conditions to create new organizational-specific capabilities and exploratory innovation.Originality/valueThis study argues that external knowledge acquisition is beneficial to innovative performance of firms in developing countries via renewing their knowledge base. Furthermore, the study provides the unique evidence that novel external knowledge acquisition and internal R&D are fit to each other in the fit-as-mediation form in which novel external knowledge acquisition is mediated by R&D to positively influence exploratory innovation.

Organizational Factors of Innovativeness in Serbian Enterprises

Abstract This paper analyses correlations between several organizational characteristics and product/process innovations in enterprises in Serbia. We used the World Bank Enterprise Survey data on 339 small, medium, and large companies from various industries. Many of the factors analysed in this study are consistent with theoretical conclusions in the literature on this topic and relate to organizational maturity. Also, factors such as the size of the company and the industry to which it belongs were analysed. For correlations testing, the Chi-square correlation coefficient and the Cramer’s V test were used. The analysis revealed correlations between innovativeness and many organizational characteristics. However, in some cases, contrary to theoretical claims, correlations were not confirmed. We found that the introduction of new products and/or processes in the company is influenced by business strategy, production targets, number of performance indicators monitored, establishment of quality management system, formal training programs for company’s full-time employees, ease of achieving the company’s production targets, level of awareness of management and employees about the company’s production targets, spending on research and development activities within the company, and acquisition of external knowledge, way of promoting non-managers in a company, time frame of the company’s production targets, company’s size and main market.

Intricacies of firm-level innovation performance: An empirical analysis of latecomer process industries

This study examines the relationships between aspects of firm-level innovation performance from the perspective of under-researched process industries in an emerging economy. We consider primary evidence from 63 firms in five Brazilian process industries over a 10-year period to examine firm-level innovation input and output performance. Our results reveal the following: (1) Regarding innovation input performance, (a) although most firms upgraded their technological capability levels, more firms moved from production capability to basic and intermediate innovation capability levels than from intermediate to advanced capability, while only a few firms moved from advanced to world-leading innovation capability levels, and (b) combinations of the acquisition of external knowledge and the creation, sharing, integration, and codifying of knowledge within firms positively and significantly influenced firms' accumulation of capabilities, but these combinations' effectiveness varied depending on the accumulation of specific levels of capabilities. (2) Concerning innovation output performance, (a) firms' accumulated capability levels underpinned the implementation of non-R&D and R&D-related innovative activities; (b) firms that accumulated high-level innovation capabilities were more productive, but accumulating technological capability had even greater positive effects on labour productivity for low-productivity firms; and (c) increasing technological capabilities for higher-exporting firms produced a higher proportion of exports in their revenue than for those that exported less. This study's comprehensive, nuanced analysis draws on mixed methods to advance our understanding of the intricacies involved in firm-level innovation performance, particularly from the perspective of a less R&D- and patenting-intensive setting. We also provide a basis for exploring this issue in other research contexts.

Media Attention of Charitable Donations and Enterprise Innovation

Enterprises have a strong incentive to seek and obtain the attention and support from many stakeholders including the market and the government. Specifically, by actively publicizing their social responsibility behaviors, enterprises can improve the confidence of their investors, maintain corporate reputation and acquire key resources including brand, talent introduction and social trust. First of all, the media attention and focus on charitable donations will form a “brand effect” on private entrepreneurs, which can strengthen the long-term orientation of enterprise development, promote enterprises to pay more attention to projects that will affect their future development, and invest more resources in economic activities such as technological innovation and environmental protection. Secondly, more media attention of charitable donations can help enterprises to enhance organizational legitimacy, thus attracting and acquiring key resources from stakeholders to promote enterprise innovation. Therefore, the media attention of charitable donation drives enterprise innovation. From the perspective of situational factors, through the publicity of charitable donations, enterprises acquire more important opportunities for the establishment of technical cooperation network, improvement of technical cooperation quality and acquisition of external knowledge. Moreover, political reputation can convey to the outside world the information that the enterprise has been recognized by the government, so the public signal of the enterprise’s charitable donations strengthens the government-enterprise bond established by the political reputation, helps the enterprise to obtain the necessary production and innovation resources, and thus promotes the innovation activities of the enterprise. Based on the above analysis, this paper focuses on the private listed enterprises from 2008 to 2016, analyzes how the media attention of charitable donations influences enterprise innovation, and studies the situational factors of the impact of media attention of charitable donations on enterprise innovation from the perspective of technology networks and political reputations. This paper concludes that the media attention of charitable donations can promote enterprise innovation, and the investigation on the background different from news media shows that the attention from the government media plays a greater role in promoting enterprise innovation. Further research shows that in respect to enterprises that need to establish technical cooperation networks and political reputations, the media attention of charitable donations plays a greater role in promoting enterprise innovation. The contribution of this paper to the research is embodied in the following aspects: Firstly, focusing on the new perspective of “media attention of charitable donations”, this paper studies the role of media, an important information medium, in promoting enterprise innovation. On this basis, this paper further reveals the economic effects and mechanism of action of the media attention of philanthropy, expands the research framework of related theory of the innovation and development, and enriches the research in the field of corporate social responsibility. Secondly, modern philanthropy cannot be separated from the involvement of media, because the publicity and supervision of the news media have become an important part of the modern philanthropic system. The conclusion of this paper provides scientific reference from the micro enterprise level for the government to formulate charity management policies and realize the win-win pattern between enterprise charity and innovative development, and provides important enlightenment for policy-makers.

Knowledge management practices and innovation: A deliberate innovation management model for SMEs

ABSTRACT We propose and test a deliberate innovation management model for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) reconciling the “cognition-action” logic underlying the knowledge management and innovation literature and the “intention-action” logic underlying Mintzberg and Waters’s deliberate strategy perspective. Consistent with a proposed “cognition-intention-action” logic, the empirical results from a sample of 633 Dutch SMEs support our predictions. SMEs that deliberately scan external information (via external knowledge acquisition practices) and distribute, interpret, and create internal knowledge (via internal knowledge-sharing practices) are more likely to enhance their innovation orientation and in turn, their innovation performance. Our study advances current understanding of innovation management, including the role of both external and internal knowledge management (KM) practices and also the value of considering innovation orientation in the overall innovation process. Our findings also offer some practical implications for SMEs to enhance their innovation ability.

Strategic Objectives of Corporate Venture Capital as a Tool for Open Innovation

Corporations are confronted with challenges adjusting to changing technologies and markets. Seeking innovations externally through open innovation is a possible approach to go beyond the internal development of innovations. One practice of open innovation to assimilate external knowledge is corporate venture capital (CVC), meaning minority investments in entrepreneurial ventures by incumbent firms, whereby the objectives of CVC investments might be purely financial or may pursue strategic goals. CVC has been identified as a possible approach to ambidexterity, since investments in new ventures can allow to explore new technologies and markets, or to improve internal exploitative capabilities. Although literature on the potential strategic benefits of CVC is abundantly available, a systematic conceptualization of strategic objectives is lacking. Therefore, this paper examines strategic objectives of CVC and seeks to enrich, extend and conceptualize existing research through a theoretical framework. The conceptual foundation of this study embeds CVC in the ambidexterity literature, and clusters objectives of CVC investments in view of an ambidextrous organization and the degree of autonomy given to CVC units. The strategic objectives that can be pursued through CVC investments are (a) strengthening the core business, (b) leveraging the ecosystem, and (c) exploring new markets and technologies. This study concludes with a comprehensive overview of the strategic objectives that can be pursued by CVC, illustrates the barriers and limitations of CVC investments, and discusses the role of autonomy and ambidexterity with respect to the individual strategic objectives. Hereby, CVC is identified as a powerful approach to engage in open innovation practices, since it allows one to pursue a range of different strategic objectives through tapping into external knowledge held by new ventures. Often considered an approach for exploring new technologies through external knowledge acquisition, CVC is also identified as an open innovation approach that allows organizations to increase their internal exploitation capabilities.

DETERMINANTS AND RISK-TAKING BEHAVIOUR OF OUTSOURCING INNOVATION DECISION AND INTENSITY IN VIETNAM: MAKE, PURE OR HYBRID?

This study investigates determinants and risk-taking behaviour of outsourcing innovation decision as well as the intensity in Vietnam. Outsourcing decision consists of an exclusive make (Make), buy (Pure) or a combination of both internal and external knowledge acquisition (Hybrid) in the innovation strategies. We also define outsourcing innovation intensity as the proportion of costs used for outsourcing innovation. We distinguish these outsourcing strategies in relation to product and process innovation. Based on the unique survey data in Vietnam available in 2016, we highlight the importance of the firm-specific factors such as R&D intensity, exporting status, and share of qualified employees dedicated to R&D activities; the firms’ obstacles and objectives for innovation; and the information sources of innovation on the outsourcing innovation decision and intensity. The other striking finding is that outsourcing innovation is risk-taking behaviour, but outsourcing product innovation strategy is a less risky option as compared to the outsourcing process innovation in the case of Vietnamese enterprises.

Wearing failure as a path to innovation

Innovation is a widely acknowledged key component of corporate performance management. However, most of the literature on this topic has tended to focus on determinants of corporate failure, thereby neglecting to look at the role of innovation failure in triggering innovative initiatives. By using a sample of companies covered by 2014 Community Innovation Survey data and applying econometric models, this study sought to analyze the impacts of innovative project failure. The results show that innovation failure is negatively correlated with companies’ experience and acquisition of external knowledge. The main findings are consistent with the scarce literature on this research topic, and highlight the positive role that companies’ accumulated experience has in their assimilation of knowledge flows.