Knowledge Search Strategies Research Articles

The Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (BOP) Market: Why and How Does Serving the Impoverished Segment Promote Radical Innovation?

This article examines a counter-intuitive phenomenon that radical innovation can be developed in bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) market. Applying the path of least resistance theory and integrating it with the attention-based view, we develop a theoretical framework that links the firm capability of BOP market commitment to radical innovation through architectural and modular knowledge search strategies and highlights the contingency of the choice of knowledge search strategies on the two pillars of strategic orientation – customer orientation and technology orientation. Based on a survey among managers in China, one of the largest BOP markets in the world, we find that while both architectural and modular knowledge search strategies act as the operating mechanisms that drive the positive effect of BOP market commitment on radical innovation, customer orientation strengthens (weakens) the positive effect of BOP market commitment on architectural (modular) knowledge search strategy. In contrast, technology orientation weakens (does not change) the positive effect of BOP market commitment on architectural (modular) knowledge search strategy. The research results make substantial contributions to multiple research streams, including the BOP literature, studies on creativity and innovation under constraints, research on strategic orientation, and studies on radical innovation.

The Effects of Top Management Team External Social Capital on Firm's Openness: Exploring the Mediating Role of Strategic Knowledge Integration

Going from the knowledge-based view of the firm, we designed a framework to describe top management team's (TMT) external social capital as a determinant of the depth and breadth of external knowledge search strategies in open innovation and Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) innovation performance. Besides, we examined the significance of strategic knowledge integration in external knowledge search strategies and innovation performance. Using a sample of 252 Kenyan manufacturing SMEs, the authors applied partial least square to a structural equation model to test the suggested hypotheses. The findings reveal that firms with intense, more frequent, and closer TMT external social capital with external knowledge sources can enhance the stock of externally acquired knowledge, showing that TMT's external social capital plays a crucial role in facilitating the breadth and depth of external knowledge search strategies. The article also finds that external knowledge search breadth is more affected by TMT's external social capital, whereas strategic knowledge integration mediates external knowledge search practices and innovation performance. Therefore, firms with a good ability to identify new opportunities and dynamic strategic businesses tend to be more innovative. This article contributes to social capital and open innovation literature by analyzing two critical determinants: external social capital and strategic knowledge integration. This article attempts to address these gaps in the literature by linking TMT's external social capital, the search for external knowledge, and strategic knowledge integration to innovation performance.

Public research organizations’ interactions with firms: Factors driving the perceived benefits

This paper investigates which factors are more effective when taking advantage of benefits perceived by firms in their collaborations with public research organizations (PROs). The empirical study is based on a survey of firms that have collaborated with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the largest PRO in Spain. We performed an ordinal probit regression, where the dependent variables reflect the importance of benefits from the interaction. We add to previous literature by considering benefits beyond innovation results and by studying the firm´s absorptive capacity and knowledge search strategy as determinants of such benefits. Our results show that firms need to have a certain level of absorptive capacity to take advantage of the collaboration with PROs, but that R&D is not the only antecedent that must be considered. Prior collaborative experience with PROs appears as an important factor to exploit these interactions, in particular as a way to develop internal capabilities and obtain long-term benefits. The study also outlined the firm´s external search strategy as a relevant factor in determining the benefits obtained from interactions with PROs.

Distant or Local? The Roles of Knowledge Search on General Purpose Technology Innovation in Emerging Industries

Due to the inherent complex tensions in General Purpose Technology (GPT) in emerging industries, namely those between “generality” and “emergance,” firms in emerging industries often face the dilemma of choosing distant search or local search in GPT innovation. The core research question of this paper is: How do the different knowledge search strategies affect GPT innovation in emerging industries? And do industry alliances play a moderating role between them? Based on a knowledge-based view, this paper takes 380 firms in emerging industries as total samples and 196 firms in emerging industries as subsamples to examine the impact of distant, local, and balanced knowledge search on the GPT innovation in emerging industries, finding: (1) Different knowledge search strategies have differential effects on the GPT innovation in emerging industries. (2) The heterogeneity of industry alliances positively moderates the relationship between distant search, balanced search, and GPT innovation in emerging industries, and weakens the relationship between local search and GPT innovation in emerging industries. This paper clarifies the relationship between knowledge search strategies and GPT innovation in emerging industries, and also provides management inspiration for the emergence and improvement of GPT innovation.

Selective search and new-to-market process innovation

PurposeSearching for knowledge from outside firms' boundaries has been proved to be a critical strategy to develop innovation. However, the existing body of research has mainly focused on the high-tech sector in developed countries, largely neglecting the considerable role of low- and medium-technology sectors (LMT) in emerging contexts. The authors discuss the fact that knowledge search patterns and the role of internal R&D intensity differ for firms operating in LMT sectors.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 1,365 firms operating in LMT sectors in Iran was used to test the proposed conceptual model, using logistic regression analysis.FindingsThe findings show that a firm will learn from its collaboration with value chain partners only if it has a strong in-house R&D capacity. In addition, while a high level of internal research development capacity increases the impact of knowledge acquired from value chain partners, the authors did not find evidence for complementarity between the investment in internal technology development and knowledge acquired from university and science-based partners.Originality/valueUnlike previous studies in open innovation that have mainly investigated the role of knowledge search on product innovation in developed countries, this study contributes to the literature by connecting the concepts of R&D intensity and selective search, discussing that businesses operating in challenging contexts follow different knowledge search strategies to develop process-related innovation activities.

Dynamic openness for network-enabled product and process innovation: a panel-data analysis

PurposePrior research on open innovation has not investigated changes in knowledge acquisition strategies of firms over time overlooking how learning from past knowledge acquisition can change subsequent search strategies. Also, prior research has focused principally on product innovation overlooking process innovation. The purpose of the paper is to introduce the concept of dynamic openness, which is defined as temporal changes in external knowledge search strategy. We explore four dynamic openness strategies – closing down, opening up, persistent open and persistent closed – and examine the impact of these strategies on both product and process innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a panel dataset of 16,021 firms based on five waves (2009–2017) of the UK Community Innovation Survey (UKIS). All models are estimated using firm and year fixed effects (FE) method to control for endogeneity that arises from unobserved heterogeneity. Endogeneity and robustness tests were carried out to ensure the validity of results.FindingsThe results show that firms do use dynamic openness strategies over time leveraging learning from past searches. Specifically, the study indicates that closing down is not an effective strategy for either type of innovation. For process innovation, firms should pursue opening up strategy rather than persistent open strategy, whereas for product innovation firms could pursue either strategy, highlighting important contextual differences.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the literature on knowledge acquisition in open innovation: (1) by theorizing the underlying reasons – learning from past collaborations, absorptive capacity and external knowledge heterogeneity – why firms pursue one dynamic openness strategy over another and (2) by extending literature by delineating the dynamic openness strategies that firms should pursue in process innovation vs product innovation.

Linking External Knowledge Search to Innovation Ambidexterity in SMEs

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of external knowledge search strategy on innovation ambidexterity for SMEs. In order to achieve the purpose of research, hypotheses were set up by dividing exploitative knowledge sources and exploitative knowledge. Based on the Tobit regression analysis results by using the 975 data of Science and Technology Policy Institute, this research provides four findings as follows: First, exploitative knowledge breadth positively and significantly influences innovation ambidexterity. Second, exploitative knowledge depth positively and significantly influences innovation ambidexterity. Third, explorative knowledge breadth positively and significantly influences innovation ambidexterity. Lastly, the relationship between explorative knowledge significantly influences innovation ambidexterity. The results indicate that their knowledge search strategies ware significant driver of their innovation ambidexterity. In the final conclusion section implications and limitations of research results and suggestion for future research are discussed.

Knowledge search strategies and corporate entrepreneurship: evidence from China's high-tech firms

PurposeThis study aims to explore the impact of search breadth and depth on corporate entrepreneurship (CE) through the mediating effect of opportunity discovery under the consideration of the technological environmental dynamism as a moderating factor.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a quantitative method, collecting 246 questionnaires from high-tech firms in the national industrial park of the Yangtze River Delta zone in China. The authors examine the hypotheses using multiple hierarchical regressions and conduct Sobel and bootstrapping tests to further assess the mediating and moderated mediating effects of the variables.FindingsThe results indicate that both the relationship between search breadth and CE and the relationship between search depth and CE are mediated by opportunity discovery. The authors further show that technological environmental dynamism positively moderates the indirect effect of knowledge search breadth on CE and negatively moderates the indirect effect of knowledge search depth and CE.Originality/valueThis study provides a valuable theoretical framework for entrepreneurship literature by differentiating the effects of search depth and search breadth on the promotion of CE in established firms and pioneers the examination of the mediating role of opportunity discovery and the moderating role of technological environmental dynamism in these links as well.

Institutional forces and knowledge search strategies as predictors of entrepreneurial venture performance

ABSTRACT We examine how institutional factors influence the strategies entrepreneurial ventures use as they seek the knowledge they need to perform and compete. With a focus on economic and ecosystem development, we propose a framework of interrelations between two principal knowledge-search strategies, their interactions with varying levels of institutional development, and the joint effects on venture performance. We utilize a sample of 1,470 entrepreneurial ventures to examine two hypotheses. Results, based on hierarchical regression, distributed lag analyses, and several assumption and robustness checks show that knowledge-search strategy interrelations are complementary when institutional development is high but substitutive when institutional development is low. We execute a post hoc analysis using separate data sources to replicate these results and strengthen our findings. Finally, we discuss implications for entrepreneurial practitioners, policymakers, and scholars.

Impact of knowledge search on product and process innovation: mediating role of absorptive capacity and moderating role of IT capability

PurposeMore enterprises adopt open innovation by breaking technological or organizational boundaries to seek internal and external knowledge when they face a fiercely competitive environment, complex market demands, and increasingly rapid technological change. In this context, a knowledge search strategy is regarded as an effective means of obtaining inside and outside resources and an important way to break the innovation bottleneck. Moreover, information technology (IT) is deemed an important asset for sourcing knowledge, whereas absorptive capacity is seen as an indispensable ability for utilizing novel knowledge. Thus, this paper aims to test the role of knowledge search in open innovation and examine the mediating effect of absorptive capacity and the moderating effect of IT capability.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 1,088 Chinese firms’ data collected by the World Bank in 2012, this paper employs logistic regression to test the hypotheses.FindingsThis study finds that local and boundary-spanning search strategies positively influence both product and process innovation, and absorptive capacity has a mediating role in the relationships between knowledge search and product and process innovation. Moreover, IT capability has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between local search and innovation performance; however, IT capability strengthens the relationship between boundary-spanning search and process innovation while weakens that between boundary-spanning search and product innovation.Originality/valueThis study explores the impact of different knowledge search behaviors on different types of innovation and probes the role of absorptive capacity and IT capability in mediating and moderating the above relationships. By drawing on knowledge-based theory and cognitive-developmental theory, this paper provides a novel perspective to explain the mechanism between knowledge search and innovation performance.

Seeking Innovation: A Typology of Knowledge Search Strategy by SMEs

While firms’ search for new knowledge has been investigated mostly for large enterprises, there is a lack of empirical research to examine knowledge search strategy by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study seeks to fill this gap in the innovation literature by examining differences in knowledge search strategy by SMEs. Drawing on a survey data obtained from 3,175 SMEs, we used cluster analysis to identify groups of SMEs that pursue homogenous knowledge search strategy. The study results shed insights about how SMEs should develop knowledge search strategy and technological dynamism to proactively harness the benefits of knowledge search.

Absorptive Capacity, External Knowledge Search, and Radical Innovation: A fsQCA Analysis

Radical innovation requires firms’ ability to utilize external knowledge in the innovation process. Taking a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approach, this study explores the relationship between a firm’s absorptive capacity, external knowledge search strategies, and radical innovation from a holistic perspective. The results verified the complex complementarities between external knowledge search and absorptive capacity in affecting radical innovation and indicated a number of different configurational paths for high radical innovations. This study extends the theoretical framework of absorptive capacity, resolves competing findings in external knowledge search literature, and provides different pathways to high radical innovations.

외부지식 탐색 전략이 기업의 상품혁신에 미치는 영향

기업의 상품혁신은 혁신의 참신성에 따라 참신성이 높은 급진적 상품혁신과 참신성이 낮은 점진적 상품혁신으로 구분할 수 있다. 본 연구는 2016년 한국기업혁신조사 제조업과 서비스업 부문 자료를 활용하여 기업의 외부지식 탐색 전략을 과학지향 탐색 전략, 시장지향 탐색 전략, 공개지식 탐색 전략으로 구분하여 참신성의 수준에 따른 상품혁신에 미치는 영향을 실증 분석 하였다. 추정 결과에 따르면 기업의 외부지식 탐색 전략에 따라 참신성 수준에 따른 상품혁신에 미치는 효과가 다른 것으로 나타났다. 공개지식 탐색 전략은 급진적 상품혁신과 점진적 상품혁신 모두에 유의한 긍정적인 영향을 주는 것으로 나타났다. 반면, 과학지향 탐색 전략은 급진적 상품혁신에는 유의한 긍정적인 영향을 주지만 점진적 상품혁신에는 유의한 영향을 주지 않는 것으로 나타났다. 이와 반대로, 시장지향 탐색 전략은 급진적 상품혁신에는 유의한 영향을 주지 않고, 점진적 상품혁신에는 유의한 긍정적 영향을 주는 것으로 나타났다. 외부지식 탐색 전략의 상품혁신에의 영향을 섹터별로 분석한 결과, 과학지향 탐색전략은 기술수준이 높은 섹터의 급진적 상품혁신에서 긍정적 영향이 크게 나타나고, 시장지향 탐색 전략은 중간재 섹터의 점진적 상품혁신에서 긍정적 영향이 크게 나타났다.

Superior position equal to greater influence? The moderating role of technological complexity

PurposeTechnological standardization can promote the development of complex products and systems (CoPS) (e.g. large aircraft, high-speed trains). Many studies argue that a superior network position contributes to improving a firm's ability to innovate; however, few studies have considered the aforementioned line of research as falling under the purview of CoPS standardization. This study focuses on CoPS integrators, which hold the most important enterprise roles in CoPS manufacturing and innovation, to analyze whether the two types of superior positions (i.e. the central position and the brokerage position) help the integrator influence the standardization process in a process moderated by technological complexity.Design/methodology/approachConsidering the outstanding market performance of the railway transportation industry in China, the abundance of cooperative activities in this industry, and data availability, we adopt integrators from this industry as samples for the empirical analysis in this study. A negative binomial regression analysis with random effects was conducted to analyze the acquired panel data.FindingsThe results show that the central position has an inverted U-shaped effect on the integrator's ability to influence standardization and that the brokerage position has a positive effect. We also find that the underlying mechanism of the two types of network positions impacts the integrator's ability to influence standardization and that it has two modes: knowledge integration in related domains and knowledge integration in nonrelated domains. Moreover, technological complexity attenuates the effect of the central position and strengthens the effect of the brokerage position on the integrator's ability to influence standardization.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the theoretical research on CoPS manufacturing and innovation and complements knowledge-based theory. The results could prove enlightening for integrators facing complex technological environments, allowing them to establish a reasonable external knowledge search strategy and choose appropriate cooperation partners according to their knowledge domains.

Consequences of open innovation: effects on skill-driven recruitment

PurposeThis paper aims to focus on the human side of inbound open innovation by analyzing the effects that the adoption of different knowledge search strategies for innovation has on new recruitment needs.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on several theoretical perspectives, the study proposes three hypotheses regarding the relationship between openness and the need to recruit people with high technical and social skills. Using a pooled panel data from the Uruguayan Innovation Survey between 2004 and 2012, the authors identify open strategies followed by the firm.FindingsThe estimation results using pooled panel data confirm that the adoption of inbound open search strategies for innovation demands the recruitment of new employees with higher technical and social skills. Technical skills are more likely to be demanded than social skills. The effects observed are moderated by the intensity in the use of knowledge and information sources (KISs).Originality/valueThis paper revisits the analysis of specific knowledge search strategies at the firm level. In doing so, the study looks for the effects of specific strategies combining different knowledge sources and considers different levels of use of external KISs, from narrow to wide. While other studies have analyzed the human factor as a determinant of the success of openness for innovation, this paper re-examines the direction of this relationship. Finally, the study contributes to the evidence from a Latin American country, where these topics have received less attention.

Openness and firm innovation performance: the moderating effect of ambidextrous knowledge search strategy

PurposeOpenness to external knowledge has recently gained popularity as a means for firms to complement and leverage internal knowledge in the pursuit of innovation outcomes. However, conflicting evidence exists regarding the role of openness in external knowledge acquisition. This paper aims to propose that openness to external knowledge has a nonlinear effect on innovation performance and that this nonlinear relationship is contingent on an ambidextrous knowledge search strategy.Design/methodology/approachBased on original large-scale survey of 246 interfirm collaborations in the high-technology industry, it is found that the impact of openness to external knowledge on innovation performance exhibits an inverted-U shape and that this relationship is affected by an ambidextrous knowledge search strategy.FindingsThe results indicate that an ambidextrous knowledge strategy that addresses the depth and breadth of external knowledge significantly influences a firm’s ability to derive benefits from increased openness to external knowledge. Empirically, the authors provide an original contribution to high-technology firms by exploring how and why an ambidextrous knowledge strategy can be a critical catalyst spurring innovation performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe research scope is limited to a single industry. Further research could extend the theoretical framework to multiple industries, which may increase the likelihood of innovation theory development.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that firms opening up the boundaries of their innovation activity to engage in external knowledge are able to leverage their in-house innovation to enhance their innovation performance. The authors advocate that in innovation management domains, greater emphasis is needed on how openness to external knowledge has more positive impacts not only on innovation performance but also on innovation implemented management.Originality/valueThis study is among the first to investigate the ambidextrous knowledge search effect on the external knowledge of high-technology firms. This paper contributes to the theoretical and practical literature concerning openness innovation and knowledge management by reflecting on the ambidextrous knowledge search strategy.

Ambidexterity in External Knowledge Search Strategies and Innovation Performance: Mediating Role of Balanced Innovation and Moderating Role of Absorptive Capacity

The importance of external knowledge acquisition for innovation by firms is well established. In particular, there has been an increasing focus on the two distinct modes of firms’ external search strategies, which have a differential effect on their learning and innovation: search breadth and depth. By applying organizational ambidexterity lens, we hypothesize that pursuing high levels of both external search strategies is beneficial to achieve a balance between exploitative and explorative innovation, which, in turn, has a positive impact on the firm’s innovation performance. We also hypothesize that, even among the firms that maintain high levels of both search strategies, firms with higher absorptive capacity better achieve a balance between both modes of innovation, thereby producing higher performance. The findings on a multi-industry sample of Koran manufacturing firms confirm our hypotheses and imply that it is essential for firms to develop capabilities for different modes of external search activities in conjunction with internal absorptive capacity for superior innovation performance.

The double-edged effect of knowledge search on innovation generations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate alliance partner diversity (APD) as a driving force that potentially enhances firms’ innovation generation (IG) in interfirm open alliance contexts. The authors propose that APD enhances IG but that the effects depend on both alliance network position and the double-edged external knowledge search strategy. Building on the knowledge-based view and social capital theory, the authors formally model how external knowledge search strategies can lead to productive or destructive acquisitions of external knowledge in interfirm open alliance networks. The authors theorize that when an individual firm adopts a central position in a complex interfirm open alliance network, its propensity toward beneficial IG depends on its knowledge search strategy (i.e. its breadth and depth) due to the joint influence of network position and knowledge search strategy on innovation.Design/methodology/approachUsing an original large-scale survey of high-tech firms, this study shows that the relationship between partner diversity and IG is contingent on a firm’s network position and knowledge search strategy. The authors also offer an original analysis of how knowledge search strategy (i.e. its breadth and depth) in network centrality (NC) affects the efficacy of knowledge acquisition in interfirm open alliance networks. Empirically, the authors provide an original contribution to the open innovation literature by integrating social capital and knowledge-based theory to rigorously measure firm IG.FindingsOverall, our findings suggest that the knowledge search strategy imparts a double-edged effect that may promote or interfere with external knowledge in IG in the context of the diversity of alliance partners.Research limitations/implicationsThe work has important limitations, such as its analysis of a single industry in the empirical models. Therefore, further studies should consider multiple industries that may provide useful insights into innovation decisions.Practical implicationsExternal knowledge search is valuable, particularly in the high-tech industry, as external knowledge acquisition generates innovation output. This study serves to raise managers’ awareness of various approaches to external knowledge searches and highlights the importance of network position in knowledge acquisition from interfirm open alliance collaborations.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to investigate the double-edged effect of knowledge search on interfirm open alliance networks. It also contributes to the theoretical and practical literature on interfirm open alliance networks by reflecting on external knowledge search and underlying network centrality and APD factors.

Search broadly or search narrowly? Role of knowledge search strategy in innovation performance

PurposeThis paper aims to shed some new light on the mixed findings of previous empirical studies on the effect of knowledge search breadth (SB) on firms’ 2019 innovation performance (IP).Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a contingent approach that examines the two organizational factors in determining the shape of the SB-IP curve. The empirical study is based on survey data gathered from 414 Chinese firms. In dealing with concerns on simultaneity and reverse causality, perceived time-lag between outcome variable and explanatory variables was introduced.FindingsThis study reveals that knowledge novelty and absorptive capacity are two functions underlying the SB-IP relationship. The results also indicate that innovation orientation and firm age moderate the SB-IP relationship in different ways: the more innovation-oriented the firm, the steeper the inverted U-shaped SB-IP relationship will be, while the older the firm, the flatter the SB-IP relationship will be. Interestingly, there is strong evidence for the shape-flip phenomenon of the SB-IP curve: SB has an inverted U-shaped effect on IP when a firm is young; however, SB has a U-shaped effect when the firm is older than 37 years.Originality/valueBy revealing two underlying functions and two moderators of the association between SB and IP at the firm level, this paper contributes to shed some new light to the mixed results reported by previous empirical studies that have examined the effect of knowledge search on firm innovation.

Export Performance in SMEs: The Importance of External Knowledge Search Strategies and Absorptive Capacity

External knowledge search strategies are considered essential for increasing export performance, a crucial goal for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a globalised and turbulent environment. SMEs are known to have limited resources, which leads them to choose the export strategy as the best alternative for entering foreign markets. The present study analyses the link between industrial and non-industrial knowledge search strategies and export performance, taking into account absorptive capacity (AC) as a mediating variable. Results from a sample of 222 Spanish exporting SMEs reveal that orientation to collaborate with industrial partners contributes to firms’ AC and export performance. Moreover, AC is found to have a full mediating role between orientation to collaborate with industrial partners and export performance. The study makes a novel contribution by applying organisational learning theory to explain how both the strategies firms adopt to access external knowledge and their absorptive capacity affect their export performance.