External Technology Acquisition Research Articles

Research on the impact of industrial innovation determinants in China

ABSTRACT China's industries have been positioned at lower and mid-range of the global industrial chain. On the basis of the latest China Economic Census, the effects of external technology acquisition and internal research and development (R&D) efforts on the innovation performance of Chinese industrial enterprises are examined. The results demonstrate that the levels of R&D intensity, patent output and innovation capability of Chinese industrial enterprises are still very low. Independent R&D has become the most vital source of technological innovation. External technology acquisition significantly inhibits the impact of internal R&D on patent production. In addition, the critical role of independent R&D in the innovation performance of Chinese industrial enterprises is confirmed. This study is of theoretical value and practical significance for promoting the industrial innovation advantages, accelerating the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy and upgrading industrial structure.

Impact of technology on structural change of labor in the manufacturing and processing industry of Vietnam

This study examines the effects of technological advancements on changes in the labor structure within Vietnam's manufacturing and processing industries. The study utilizes a panel dataset that combines each year's enterprise census data from 2012 to 2018 with the enterprise statistics of technology data provided by the Vietnam General Statistics Office throughout the same timeframe. This study highlighted four key aspects that contribute to technology-related challenges. These factors include external technology purchasing, research and development activities, absorbability of technology, and the influence of Foreign Direct Investment firms. The study tested the endogeneity in the model, overcame the defects of the model, and selected the fixed effect model to assess the four factors affecting labor structural change. The Lilien index is used to measure the level of structural change in labor in the manufacturing and processing industries of Vietnam. The results show that external technology acquisition and R&D activities had a positive effect on the Lilien index. Moreover, compelling data indicates that the location of technology acquisition has a contrasting influence on labour structural change, with varying effects observed in enterprises that employ high versus low levels of technology. The findings will serve as a significant indicator for governmental entities and management in formulating policies aimed at enhancing the overall efficiency of firms and facilitating labour restructuring initiatives.

From leverage to learning: latecomer trade-offs between technology purchase and imitation

ABSTRACT This study focuses on what latecomers can leverage to drive their learning; moreover, it examines how domestic customer demands and latecomers’ internal capabilities affect their preferences for external technology acquisition. Using a policy-capturing technique, this study shows that customer demand and latecomers’ absorptive capacity are positively related to their preferences for technology purchase and imitation. R&D capabilities negatively affect latecomers’ preferences for technology purchase. Furthermore, customer demand allows latecomers to prefer technology purchase over technology imitation; absorptive capacity drives latecomer preferences for technology imitation over technology purchase; and latecomers with high R&D capabilities are more inclined to ‘NOT purchase’ rather than ‘NOT imitation’.

The impact of external technology acquisition on enterprise innovation performance: the moderating effect of geographical distance

ABSTRACT Enterprises often acquire technologies from external sources which are geographically dispersed. Although previous literatures have discussed the role of external technology acquisition (ETA) in enterprises’ innovation performance, how innovation is affected by the breadth and depth of ETA is less investigated, and little is known about how geographical distance (GD) is involved. Therefore, this paper first analyses the relationship between the breadth, depth of ETA and enterprises’ innovation performance with patent transaction data of listed manufacturing enterprises in China. Then we further investigate how GD moderates the relationship. Results show that both the breadth and depth of ETA positively affect enterprises’ innovation performance. GD has no moderating effect on the relationship between the breadth of ETA and enterprises’ innovation performance, but negatively moderates the relationship between the depth of ETA and enterprises’ innovation performance. Our results have implications for enterprises’ ETA strategy.

Educational level of researchers in spin-out R&D units and external technology acquisition: The higher, the more?

Educational level of researchers in spin-out R&D units and external technology acquisition: The higher, the more?

Boundary spanning through external technology acquisition: The moderating role of star scientists and upstream alliances

Building on the theories of knowledge recombination, we argue that the external acquisition of technologies acts as a boundary spanning mechanism that impacts on the recipient firm’ subsequent technology development. The effect is moderated by two additional mechanisms, namely the retention of star scientists and the experience in upstream strategic alliances. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of 6208 USPTO patented technologies acquired by 350 biotechnology firms over the period 1980–2012. Findings reveal an inverted U-shaped effect of the pioneering nature of the acquired technology on firm's subsequent developments, in terms of (self) citations of firm's subsequent patents to the acquired one. Moreover, the main relationship is negatively moderated by the retention of star scientists, while the experience in upstream alliances demonstrates to be a positive moderator.

IMPACT OF EXTERNAL TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION ON THE EFFICIENCY OF ENTERPRISE'S TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

Nowadays, the innovation ability has become an important indicator to measure the viability and competitiveness of enterprises. An open innovation is an important strategic component of enterprises’ innovative development. This paper, stemming from the enterprise's external technology acquisition breadth in inbound open innovations, with the extent of industry prosperity as a regulated variable, has selected 255 enterprise from three different manufacturing industry, including medicine, electronics and basic chemical engineering, to study the impact of external technology acquisition on the efficiency of enterprise's technological innovations. The results show that the external technology acquisition has a positive effect on the efficiency of enterprise's technological innovations, and choosing various ways to acquire external technologies more actively is conducive to the improvement in the efficiency of enterprise's technological innovations.

Educational Level of Researchers in R&D Institutes and External Technology Acquisition

Firms have increasingly sourced knowledge beyond their boundaries. External technologies complement firms’ internal knowledge stock with multiple benefits, but these benefits come with considerable economic and cognitive costs. Thus, the incentive of firms to source external technologies relies on the trade-off between its benefits and costs. Our study aims to explore how the educational level of researchers in research and development (R&D) institutes held by firms influences external technology acquisition. We argue that a higher educational level of researchers in R&D institutes helps reduce costs and capture value from external technologies, thus promoting firms to acquire technologies externally. Furthermore, the positive effect of the educational level of researchers in R&D institutes will be amplified when faced with high task intensity or intense market competition. By contrast, the effect will be weakened when the industry R&D intensity is high or when the technology transaction norms are strong. Using the unique data of manufacturing firms in an eastern province of China, we validate our theoretical framework empirically and offer several managerial and policy implications.

External technology acquisition, exploitation and process innovation performance in emerging market small and medium sized enterprises: the moderating role of organizational slack

PurposeThis study is among the very few to examine the firm's simultaneous use of both dimensions of open innovation and its influences on the firm's process innovation performance (PIP). Specifically, the authors consider the relationship between firm's external technology acquisition (ETA) and external technology exploitation (ETE) and examine their direct, indirect and mediating effect on the firm's PIP. The authors also examine the moderating effect of the organizations' unabsorbed slack (UASL) on the relationship between ETA and ETE.Design/methodology/approachAnalyzing data collected from 311 small- and medium-sized software development firms in emerging market; Thailand, we show that both ETA and ETE have a positive effect on PIP and that ETE fully mediates the relationship between ETA and PIP.FindingsThe authors show that both ETA and ETE have a positive effect on PIP and that ETE fully mediates the relationship between ETA and PIP. Moreover, the relationship between ETA and ETE is positively moderated by the firms' unabsorbed slack (UASL) and that the influence of ETA on PIP through ETE is stronger under higher unabsorbed slack.Originality/valueThe authors extend the “traditional” performance outcome of outbound dimension of open innovation concept, which focuses exclusively on commercialization and market (Chesbrough, 2003b), by showing that ETE positively influences the firm's PIP. Moreover, the study explains the mechanism through which ETA influence the firm's PIP by proposing that ETE fully mediates the relationship between ETA and PIP.

Transnational knowledge transfer or indigenous knowledge transfer: which channel has more benefits for China's high-tech enterprises?

PurposeThis paper compares four external technology acquisition channels' (foreign technology transfer, exporting, inter-industry R&D spillover and domestic technology transfer) contributions to Chinese high-tech enterprises' innovation in the moderating role of absorptive capacity (AC).Design/methodology/approachUsing technological catch-up theory and China Statistics Yearbook on High Technology Industry, this research investigates 16 Chinese high-tech industries from 2004 to 2015 via negative binomial regression.FindingsThe results show that indigenous knowledge transfer improves foreign-funded enterprises' (FFEs) innovation, while transnational knowledge transfer is the main channel for state-owned enterprises' (SOEs) technology acquisition. AC strengthens the positive relationship between transnational knowledge transfer and innovation in SOEs and improves FFEs' innovation and exported tacit knowledge absorption.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on external technology acquisition (ETA) and innovation by examining the different mechanism of ETA instead of isolated strategy considering the AC and ownership structure of Chinese high-tech enterprises, which enrich the technological catch-up theory.

Tracing the Spatial Patterns of Innovation Determinants in Regional Economic Performance

In this paper, we investigate innovation factors and their role in regional economic performance for a sample of 261 EU NUTS 2 regions over the period 2009–2012. In our study, we identify regions with spillover as well as drain effects of innovation factors on economic performance. The spatial analysis indicates that both regional innovativeness and regional development are strongly determined by the region’s location and “neighbourhood”, with severe consequences for Central and Eastern Europe. We assessed the impact of innovation factors and their spatial counterparts on economic performance using a spatial Durbin panel model. The model is designed to test the existence and strength of the country‑effect of innovativeness on the level of regional economic status. This allows for controlling the country‑specific socio‑economic factors, without reducing the number of degrees of freedom. Our model shows that regions benefit economically from their locational spillovers in terms of social capital. However, the decomposition of R&D expenditures revealed competition effect between internal R&D and external technology acquisition, favouring in‑house over outsourced research.

Capital Structure Choices in Technology Firms: Empirical Results from Polish Listed Companies

The main aim of the paper is the identification of capital structure determinants, with a special emphasis on investments in the innovativeness of Polish New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs). Poland is a unique country in that it is an emerging market that was also promoted in 2018 to the status of a developed country. The study sample consisted of 31 companies listed in the Warsaw Stock Exchange that are classified as high-tech firms and covers the period 2014–2018. The following factors influencing the capital structure were analyzed: internal and external innovativeness and the firm’s size, liquidity, intangibility, age, profitability, and growth opportunities. The results of the research provide empirical evidence that liquidity, age, and investments in innovativeness determine capital structure, which provides an additional argument supporting the trade-off theory and the modified version of the pecking order theory. More specifically, the results suggest that companies whose process of investment in innovativeness is based on the external acquisition of technology are able to attract external financing, while the process based on internally generated innovativeness (R&D activity) deters external capital. The results are interesting for policymakers in emerging markets.

AKUISISI TEKNOLOGI EKSTERNAL DAN KINERJA PERUSAHAAN

In the business world, technology owned by a company is an infrastructure that is very important in supporting the company's efforts to increase profits. The current global business trend is encouraging company managers to move away from the trend of building their own technology needed to become a trend to get technology through collaboration with other companies because it can reduce expensive research costs, stimulate the innovation process to be able to fulfill requests that will ultimately improve the performance produced. his study proposes a model that can be used to analyze the contribution of external technology acquisition to company performance External technology acquisition contributes positively to company performance, and this contribution is strengthened by the moderator effect of internal R & D effort. Investment in internal R & D effort does not only stimulate the occurrence of innovation processes that will be needed to produce good performance but also strengthen the company's absorptive capacity. Absorptive capacity is needed to strengthen the company's ability to learn the latest knowledge and technology

The influence of open innovation on firm performance

Innovation is crucial for growth and business development, and represents a reliable way through which to gain competitiveness within the marketplace. Open innovation is expressed through three different processes: the acquisition of external technology (inbound innovation); the external exploitation of technology (outbound innovation); and coupled innovation. Based on a comprehensive and systematic review of the literature best able to detect the main thematic areas of the research topic, the aim of this paper is to investigate how the paradigm of open innovation influences firm performance and to provide suggestions for future research avenues.

The Role Of Internal R&D Efforts Toward Company’s Absorptive Capacity

In the business world, a company’s proprietary of technology is a very important infrastructure in helping gaining the profit. In order to reduce expensive research expenses, today business trend tend to push managerial to switch from developing its own technology to adopting third party technology. This conversion also helps stimulating innovation to fill requirements which will improve performance at the end. And the success of an external technology acquisition is determined by the accumulation of absorptive capacity of the company itself. This paper proposed a model that demonstrated the role of internal R&D’s effortss towards company’s Absorptive capacity to increase the successful of external technology acquisition.

Open innovation: from technology exploitation to creation of superior performance

Purpose Nowadays, to develop innovative activities in research and development units, it is desirable to rely on the concept of open innovation to take actions towards the identification of external capabilities of an organization and external knowledge acquisition. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the impact of external technology acquisition (ETA), external technology exploitation (ETE) and culture of innovation (IC) on open innovation (OI) using SEM approach and then examine the amount of the impact of open innovation on organizational performance (OP) and value creation (VC). Design/methodology/approach This study was an applied survey in terms of research purpose and data collection method. The statistical population included all companies in Yazd Science and Technology Park (STP). To collect the data, 109 questionnaires were distributed. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts’ comments, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated equal to 0.873 for reliability. Findings The results indicated, ETA, ETE and IC had significant and positive effects on OI, and OI by itself had a significant and positive impact on OP and VC. However, the hypothesis of the significant and positive effect of VC on OP was rejected. Originality/value Considering the importance of innovative activities of companies in STPs and the role of OI in achieving the goals of idea-driven companies, the present study evaluated the effects of factors affecting the fulfillment of OI in companies based in STPs in the Yazd province of Iran.

External Technology Acquisition and External Technology Exploitation: The Difference of Open Innovation Effects

To sustain in today’s ever-changing and competitive landscape, firms must work within and outside of their organizations’ boundaries. Open innovation (OI) strategies such as external technology acquisition (ETA), and external technology exploitation (ETE), can effectively improve the innovation performance of the organizations. Technologies like social media can help organizations to scout for appropriate technology, and source for ideas and knowledge from external sources to support their innovations. Moreover, digitalization can hasten business operations and enhance the innovation process of the firm. Focusing on open innovation (OI), this study takes an integrated approach towards investigating the impact of OI strategies, technology scouting through social media, and digitalization vision on innovation and firm performance. Data were drawn from 153 organizations in Malaysia, and the partial least squares (PLS) method was used to analyze data. The findings revealed that ETE, technology scouting through social media, and digitalization vision have a significant relationship with innovation performance. This, in turn, shows a positive relationship with firm performance. However, ETA does not have a significant relationship with innovation performance in the Malaysia context. This study extends the current literature on OI through the use of specific technology variables, such as technology scouting through social media and digitalization vision to support organizations’ innovation.

ORGANISATIONAL CAPABILITIES FOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER: A STUDY OF R&D-INTENSIVE FIRMS IN GERMANY

This paper empirically investigates the performance effects of organisational capabilities for technology transfers, i.e., external technology acquisition and commercialisation, as well as the effect of cross-functional integration of departments involved in technology transfers. We study large, German R&D-intensive companies from the machinery, chemical/pharmaceutical, and electronic and semiconductor industries. Identification and realisation were identified as the two major capabilities required for both external technology acquisition and commercialisation. We found that the respective capabilities for technology transfer realisation have a significant positive effect on technology transfer performance, but the capabilities to identify technology transfer opportunities do not. There is no significant effect from organisational capabilities for external technology acquisition on outward technology transfer performance and vice versa. For cross-functional integration, a significant effect was only found for informal integration on external technology acquisition performance.

Strategic decision making for boosting innovation and TMT compensation in high-tech industry: evidence from China

This study investigates whether total, accounting-based and stock-based compensation packages for top management teams (TMTs) impact firms' total, internal R&D and external buying behaviour of getting new technology. Total innovation behaviour, internal R&D behaviour and external buying behaviour are examined across a sample of 86 A-share listed companies from the Chinese high-tech sector from the period 2009 to 2015. After controlling endogeneity issues, firm size, cash flow and various other firm characteristics, the results of three stage-least-square regressions (3SLS) analysis show that TMT total compensation is positively related to total innovation policy. Furthermore, the results of accounting based and stock based compensations suggest that when TMT compensation is heavily based on accounting performance, companies prefer to buy new technology through external sources and avoid internal R&D, whilst TMT compensation skewed more towards risk-based stock compensation encourages internal R&D and discourages external new technology acquisition.

How Does Open Innovation Modify the Relationship between Environmental Regulations and Productivity?

AbstractWith increasingly severe environmental regulations, a pressing issue has been the need for firms to develop efficient strategies to achieve environmental protection and high productivity. Several environmental experts argue that firms can respond to environmental regulations through innovation; however, the question of how to innovate is unanswered in the environmental literature. Therefore, this study focuses on the open innovation strategy approach to respond to environmental regulations and maintain high productivity by incorporating the idea of innovation management. We first divide open innovation strategy into two modes of external technology acquisition: foreign and domestic. Next, we examine these modes' mediation effects on environmental regulations and productivity. In addition, we test the moderating effect of internal R&D on the relationship between external technology acquisition and productivity. Using data on 35 Chinese industrial sectors from 2001 to 2010, the empirical findings show that foreign technology significantly and positively mediates the link between environmental regulations and productivity, while domestic technology does not. Internal R&D investment, as an absorptive capacity, positively moderates the effect of foreign technology; however, it negatively moderates the effect of domestic technology on productivity. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment