Standard Alliance Research Articles

Influence of standards alliance coopetition relationship on enterprises’ technology innovation performance — A dual-path perspective of knowledge acquisition and routine updating

Technology standardisation is becoming a strategic initiative for globalised enterprises committed to innovation and development. However, the role of Technical Standards Alliance (TSA) as the primary method of participating in technology standardisation and the relationship between alliance enterprises for innovation benefits remains unclear, which leads to the partial failure of enterprise standardisation and innovation. This study constructs a research model based on coopetition theory to explore the mediating mechanism and boundary conditions of the Standards Alliance Coopetition Relationship (SCR) affecting enterprises' Technology Innovation Performance (TIP). The researchers conducted a questionnaire survey involving 542 standards alliance participating enterprises in China. The results of the regression analysis and self-help test reveal that (1) SCR positively affects enterprises' TIP; (2) Knowledge Acquisition (KA) and Routine Updating (RU) act as both a two-path mediator and a chain mediator between SCR and the enterprises’ TIP; and (3) Cognitive Proximity (CP) among alliance enterprises positively moderates the relationship between SCR and KA, and SCR and RU. These findings contribute theoretically to the literature on technology standardisation and address the research gap on how enterprises can effectively enhance their TIP through participation in standardisation. Finally, the study provides significant managerial implications for enterprises to construct robust standard alliance coopetition relationships, strengthen knowledge acquisition, and enhance routine updating.

Impact of the latecomer's ambidextrous innovation catch-up on the performance of technical standards alliance from the perspective of alliance routines

Joining a technical standards alliance is becoming increasingly crucial for latecomer enterprises’ innovation catch-up in today's fast-paced technological environment. This study investigates the influence of latecomers’ ambidextrous innovation on technical standards alliances while highlighting the importance of alliance routines. A structural equation model is used to analyse a sample of 118 latecomer members and 45 technical standards alliances in China's strategic emerging industries. Several novel findings are reported. First, latecomers’ two types of innovation catch-up and the three dimensions of alliance routines promote alliance performance, all of which positively impact alliance performance. Second, alliance routines have different effects on latecomers’ Ambidextrous innovation catch-up. All three dimensions of the alliance routine promote utilisation innovation catch-up, whereas behavioural logic and interactive consensus hinder exploration innovation catch-up. Third, utilisation innovation completely mediates between alliance practice and performance, whereas exploration innovation only plays a partial mediating role. This study presents specific recommendations for latecomer enterprises and technical standards alliances.

Research on the Influence of Alliance Routines on the Ambidextrous Technological Catch-Up of Latecomers to Technology Standards Alliances

This paper focuses on latecomers in technology standards alliances, a topic that has received limited attention in academia. Although latecomers have disadvantages in terms of technology and market access, they possess a strong desire to catch up technologically. As a fundamental characteristic of an alliance, alliance routines serve as a source of innovation for members and a basic unit of analysis, providing a new perspective for understanding and researching the technological catch-up of latecomers. In this paper, a questionnaire survey is conducted among 83 latecomer enterprises in a technology standards alliance. The survey covers strategic emerging industries, such as new energy, new-generation information technology, new materials, and high-end manufacturing. Then, hierarchical regression is performed for hypothesis testing. The research shows that the three dimensions of alliance routines significantly promote the utilization of technological catch-up by latecomer enterprises. However, the impact on the exploration technological catch-up varies, where the action logic promotes exploration technological catch-up while implicit norms hinder exploratory innovation with an inverted U-shaped impact. The absorptive capacity strengthens the positive impact of the three alliance routines on the exploitative innovation of latecomer enterprises and strengthens the inverted U-shaped relationship between mutual consensus and their exploratory innovation. Nonetheless, it fails to play a significant regulatory role in action logic or in the relationship between implicit norms and exploratory innovation of latecomers.

Knowledge Collaboration and Benefits of Standard Implementation of Enterprise in Technology Standard Alliance

Knowledge Collaboration and Benefits of Standard Implementation of Enterprise in Technology Standard Alliance

Research on the Influence Mechanism of Enterprise Industrial Internet Standardization on Digital Innovation

In the era of the digital economy, with the digital and intelligent transformation of the industry, technical complexity, and higher demand for the inter-operability of Industrial Internet platforms, standardization work faces challenges of timeliness and high quality. So, enterprises must improve the quality and efficiency of their digital innovation capabilities in the dynamic process of Industrial Internet standardization. Given this condition, based on the digital innovation theory, standardization theory, and social network theory, this paper takes 387 A-share-listed enterprises in the field of Industrial Internet industry as the research object and uses the secondhand cross-sectional data to carry out the research on the influence mechanism of enterprise Industrial Internet standardization on the digital innovation capabilities of enterprises. The results show that: enterprise Industrial Internet standardization exerts a positive influence on the digital innovation capability of enterprises; a standard alliance network in the enterprise Industrial Internet standardization plays an intermediary role in the digital innovation capability of enterprises; and the scale of enterprises has a positive moderating effect on the intermediary role of a standard alliance network between the enterprise Industrial Internet standardization and the digital innovation capability of enterprises. From the perspective of the alliance network effect, the research explores the economic consequences of standardization construction and enriches the appraisal of the standardization capability of enterprises for the purpose of providing targeted empirical evidence and practical strategies for the standard-based digital innovation of Industrial Internet enterprises.

Research on the influence of alliance portfolio network characteristics on enterprise innovation performance: Based on the empirical analysis of automobile manufacturing industry

This paper selects the formal standard formulation information of Chinese listed automobile manufacturing enterprises, uses the standard co-drafting unit to construct the technical standard alliance network, and uses negative binomial regression to discuss the influence of network characteristic indicators of alliance combination on enterprise innovation performance. The results show that alliance portfolio scale, alliance portfolio diversity and alliance relationship strength all have a positive impact on enterprise innovation performance, which has important reference value for enterprises to better create and manage standard alliances.

Simulation of conflict transmission in technology standard alliance

Conflicts between participants in the technical standards alliance are inevitable. Mastering the laws of conflict transmission is crucial for managing conflict effectively. On the basis of examining the conceptual framework of conflict transmission, this paper deduces a SIR model for conflict transmission and uses a system dynamics model to simulate and analyze the transmission process. The results show that the transmission of conflicts tends to expand once conflicts are triggered. Reducing the infection rate and increasing the removal rate can effectively curb conflict transmission.

Mechanism of latecomer enterprises’ technological catch-up in technical standards alliances – An ambidextrous innovation perspective

This study innovatively conducts an empirical study on technological catch-up of latecomers in technological standards alliance from the perspective of ambidexterity innovation. Due to the paradox in the relationship between ambidexterity innovation and corporate performance, we constructed a research framework with inter-organizational factor - organizational model of technological standards alliance and intra-organizational factor - characteristics of latecomer firms as situational factors to deeply analyze the impact of ambidexterity innovation on technology catch-up of latecomers in technological standards alliance. The results of the empirical study show that the impact of ambidexterity innovation on the technological catch-up of latecomers differs among various alliance modes; the absorptive capacity of latecomers has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between duality ambidexterity and its technological catch-up. These findings provide useful suggestions for how latecomers can make use of technological standards alliance as a vehicle for technological catch-up.

Enhancing technology innovation performance through alliance capability: The role of standard alliance network and political skill of TMTs.

Given the increasing competition in standards, standard alliances have become a vital choice for enterprises to enhance their competitive advantage. In standard alliances, what decisions must top management teams make to help their enterprises improve their innovation performance? To answer this question, we draw on dynamic capability theory, social network theory, and high-level echelon theory to understand how alliance capabilities and standard alliance networks affect technology innovation performance. We collected questionnaire data from 465 manufacturing enterprises in China, and the empirical findings show that (1) enterprise alliance capabilities and standard alliance networks have a positive impact on technology innovation performance; (2) enterprise alliance capabilities and technology innovation performance are mediated by standard alliance networks; and (3) the political skills of top management teams strengthen this moderating model. The results of this study enrich the literature on standard alliances and provide a reference for enterprises in developing standard alliance strategies, cultivating alliance capabilities, and exercising the requisite political skills of top management teams.

Value co-creation in the multinational technology standard alliance: a case study from emerging economies

PurposeThis paper aims to explore and analyze how a focal firm, coming from emerging economies, of the multinational technology standard alliance ecosystem engages different actors of the alliance in value co-creation practice, contributing to product collaborative innovation and reciprocal standards cooperation.Design/methodology/approachBased on in-depth interviews, primary company, and secondary documents, this paper conducts an exploratory single case study of TechAlpha to investigate the practice of value co-creation in the multinational technology standard alliance (MTSA).FindingsBased on the extended resource-based view (ERBV), this paper finds that in the MTSA ecosystem, actor engagement sets the anchor for the focal firm in the MTSA to dominate the resource interaction, achieving a greater interaction through goal co-discussion, standard co-construction and achievement co-sharing. Resource interaction is composed of standard resource identification, standard resource sharing, and standard resource alignment, putting a high value on the practice of value co-creation. Value co-creation dominated by the focal firm of the MTSA is embodied in the synergy of actor engagement and resource interaction.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the relevant literature by illustrating how the focal firm coming from emerging economies of the MTSA enables value co-creation through adjusting the situation of actor engagement and exerting its standards resource interaction. This paper also advances the process of acquisition, integration, and reconstruction of heterogeneous resources throughout the MTSA by offering a new supplementary perspective and new evidence from a Chinese firm.

Cooperative Network Embedding, Knowledge Network Structure and Technological Catch-Up of Latecomers: A Technical Standards Alliance Perspective

Taking the technical standards alliance (TSA) of strategic emerging industries as the sample, including China’s new energy vehicles, new-generation information technology, new materials, and high-end equipment manufacturing, the article empirically verified the impact of the external cooperation network and internal knowledge network of late-developing enterprises on their dual catch-up. The results showed that the appropriate centrality of the cooperative network promotes the exploitative catch-up and exploratory catch-up of late-developing enterprises. However, the excessive centrality blocked its exploratory catch-up. The structural hole of the cooperation network was conducive to the exploratory catch-up of late-developing enterprises, but not to their exploitative catch-up. The comprehensive cohesiveness of the knowledge network strengthened the positive impact of the centrality of the cooperation network on exploitative catch-up of late-developing enterprises, damaging the negative impact of the structural hole of the cooperation network on exploitative catch-up. The partial cohesiveness of the knowledge network positively adjusted the centrality of the cooperative network, the relationship between the structural hole and exploratory catch-up, and negatively adjusted the relationship between the centrality of the network and exploitative catch-up. By analyzing the differential impact of the dual network on two types of technology catch-up strategies of late-developing enterprises, the article deepened the theory of organizational duality. Meanwhile, the article contained innovation activities of late-developing enterprises in the TSA, which provided a new theoretical perspective and empirical basis for the combination of standardization of cooperation and innovation management theory.

Effects of participation in standardization on firm performance from a network perspective: Evidence from China

A technical standards alliance (TSA) is a collection of firms organized for a common goal: developing, revising, and promoting technical standards. A firm may participate in standardization through one or more TSAs: its TSA network. However, little is known about the influencing factors and their boundary conditions for gaining firm-level benefits from such involvement. This study fills this gap. Drawing on a network perspective on standardization, we examine the effect of the firm's TSA network and its absorptive capacity. Using a sample of 437 Chinese IT and automotive industry firms participating in non-governmental Chinese standardization groups, we find positive impacts of participation. A firm's central position and relationship strength within a TSA network positively affect firm performance, and absorptive capacity contributes to this effect. Environmental uncertainty acts as a moderator in the relationship between absorptive capacity and firm performance. These findings add to the literature on the impacts of standardization and are informative for companies that consider participating in standardization.

The Optimal Patent Portfolio of The Technology Standards Alliances in Innovation Competition

ABSTRACT Unlike the dominant theories based on the rigid assumption that “technology standards must contain only essential patents”, this paper discusses the standard alliances that are engaged in their cumulative innovation. Its focus is particularly on a more realistic setting that a standard alliance should contain both the essential and the non-essential patents. We use the essential-patent’s ratio, which denotes the percentage of the essential patents in the total patents in a standard, as the cumulative innovation model’s core variable. The mathematical analysis illustrates that the essential-patent’s ratio performs an important role in the arguments’ standards. There is an optimal portfolio that maximizes the alliances’ efficiency in an innovation competition. It implies that the social welfare effects depend on the dynamic trade-off between the long-term technical gap caused by the technological upgrades’ missing opportunities and the short-term welfare losses that consumers may suffer. The patents’ and antitrust laws should tolerate a certain number of non-essential patents being contained by the technology standards.

Patient alliance with the program predicts treatment outcomes whereas alliance with the therapist predicts adherence in internet-based therapy for panic disorder

Objective: This study examines relationships among different aspects of therapeutic alliance with treatment outcome, adherence and attrition in internet delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) for panic disorder. Methods: We examined alliance-outcome relationships in ICBT (N = 74) using a newly developed self-report alliance measure that disentangles alliance with program content (Internet Patient’s Experience of Attunement and Responsiveness with the program; I-PEARp) and with the therapist (I-PEARt). We compared ICBT outcomes of patient rated and therapist-rated alliance with conventional alliance scales (WAI-6 and WAI-T). Results: Consistent with our hypothesis, I-PEARp and I-PEARt distinguished between different aspects of the alliance and predicted outcomes better than standard alliance scales. Furthermore, higher ratings of I-PEARp were associated with subsequent lower symptoms and lower symptoms were associated with higher subsequent alliance. In contrast, I-PEARt predicted adherence, but not symptoms. Although therapists’ ratings of alliance (thI-PEAR) improved significantly during treatment, they did not predict subsequent symptoms, adherence, or dropout. Conclusion: Results indicate that the patient experience of the alliance in ICBT includes two aspects, each of which uniquely contributes to outcomes; patient connection to the program is related to symptom outcomes whereas the dyadic relationship with the therapist serves as the glue to allow the treatment to hold.

Evolution of a Technology Standard Alliance Based on an Echo Model Developed through Complex Adaptive System Theory

The evolution of the technology standard alliance (TSA) is examined using complex adaptive system (CAS) theory. Taking TSA as a dynamic CAS, an echo model is constructed to depict the mechanism of its evolution, and a model is simulated on the NetLogo platform. The echo model includes a basic model, an extended model, and a three-layer echo model. The adhesive aggregation of agents is explained, and the three evolutionary stages of agents’ entry, migration, and exit are analyzed. Moreover, the adaptability of agents in TSA is quantified. The results of simulation show the evolution of the TSA in relation to the two aspects of agent adhesion aggregation and agent resource interaction, and they demonstrate the dynamic and complex hierarchical structure of the TSA system. It is proposed that greater matching ability, moderate behavior income, and lower behavior cost are more conducive to the evolution and development of TSA. Additionally, the echo model is reconstructed to expand the range of application of CAS theory.

Influence Mechanism of Ambidextrous Innovation on Technological Catch-Up in Latecomer Enterprises of Technical Standards Alliance

This study analyzes the mechanism through which ambidextrous innovation influences technological catch-up in latecomer enterprises. It first proposes a conceptual model of the influence of ambidextrous innovation on technological catch-up in latecomer enterprises and introduces the two regulating variables of alliance governance model and absorptive capacity. It then empirically studies the main effect and adjustment effect using hierarchical regression analysis based on a large-sample questionnaire survey, and finally, determines the effect and conditions of ambidextrous innovation on technological catch-up in latecomer enterprises.

Looking Back to the Future—Selective SEP Licensing Through a Competition Law Lens?

Looking Back to the Future—Selective SEP Licensing Through a Competition Law Lens? Evelina Kurgonaitė, Evelina Kurgonaitė Secretary General at the Fair Standards Alliance (FSA) Evelina Kurgonaitė is a Secretary General at the Fair Standards Alliance (FSA). Pat Treacy is The Head of the Competition Team at Bristows LLP in London and Brussels. Edwin Bond is an associate at Bristows LLP. Representing over 45 small and large companies operating in different sectors around the world, FSA advocates fair and more transparent licensing of standard essential patents (SEPs). Most FSA members implement connectivity technology standards, and many members own SEP portfolios. The FSA is not a client of Bristows LLP. Bristows LLP has advised and represented both SEP owners and licensees for a number of years. The views expressed in this article are personal, reflecting an interest in the past and future evolution of FRAND. They do not necessarily represent the opinions of the FSA, Bristows LLP, or any client or clients of Bristows LLP. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Pat Treacy, Pat Treacy The Head of the Competition Team at Bristows LLP in London and Brussels Evelina Kurgonaitė is a Secretary General at the Fair Standards Alliance (FSA). Pat Treacy is The Head of the Competition Team at Bristows LLP in London and Brussels. Edwin Bond is an associate at Bristows LLP. Representing over 45 small and large companies operating in different sectors around the world, FSA advocates fair and more transparent licensing of standard essential patents (SEPs). Most FSA members implement connectivity technology standards, and many members own SEP portfolios. The FSA is not a client of Bristows LLP. Bristows LLP has advised and represented both SEP owners and licensees for a number of years. The views expressed in this article are personal, reflecting an interest in the past and future evolution of FRAND. They do not necessarily represent the opinions of the FSA, Bristows LLP, or any client or clients of Bristows LLP. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Edwin Bond Edwin Bond Bristows LLP Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of European Competition Law & Practice, Volume 11, Issue 3-4, March-April 2020, Pages 133–146, https://doi.org/10.1093/jeclap/lpaa003 Published: 04 March 2020 Article history Received: 04 November 2019 Revision received: 23 January 2020 Revision requested: 29 January 2020 Accepted: 30 January 2020 Published: 04 March 2020

The Influencing Factors of the Technology Standard Alliance Collaborative Innovation of Emerging Industry

As the important carrier for patent sharing, joint creation and application promotion, the industrial technology standard alliance has increasingly become the main organization pattern for technology standardization around the world. Particularly, technology standard alliance collaborative innovation is more conducive to accelerate the independent innovation pace and technology standard internationalization process of emerging industries in China. Based on analyzing the connotation, characteristics and influencing factors of technology standard alliance collaborative innovation, this paper puts forward the research hypothesis and theoretical framework of alliance collaborative innovation, and then uses a questionnaire survey and a Structural Equation Model to test the influencing factors and their effect path through 196 technology standard alliance enterprises samples. The results indicate that compared with strategy collaboration and process collaboration, patent collaboration has more significant positive impacts on alliance innovation performance; further, resource integration, knowledge sharing and revenue distribution, become the main influencing factors of alliance collaborative innovation. Finally, this paper proposes the mechanism framework of technology standard alliance collaborative innovation, which provides effective reference for strengthening the technology standard alliance collaborative innovation management of emerging industry.

Intervention Behaviors of Government on Technical Standard Alliance and Economic Outcomes

Intervention Behaviors of Government on Technical Standard Alliance and Economic Outcomes

Comparative Analysis of Risk Assessment for Technical Standards Alliance Based on BP Neural Network and Fuzzy AHP Methods

Establishing unified industrial technical standards for a single enterprise in a highly global integrated market is becoming increasingly difficult. In recent years, leading enterprises have often built technical standards alliances around a key core technology to develop industrial standards cooperatively in order to learn from each other and optimize their resource allocation. Although such technical standards alliances result in huge gains to their members, their internal and external risks threaten both the alliances and their members. As compared to other forms of strategic alliances, the risk of such an alliance has fuzzy characteristics and is difficult to fully and accurately identify. This paper uses a fuzzy pattern-recognition method to evaluate and summarize the risks of technical standards alliances. A fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) evaluation and back propagation (BP) logic fuzzy neural network methods are used to construct a risk-evaluation model of technical standards alliances while considering an alliance around new-energy automobiles in Zhejiang as an empirical example. The two evaluation models are then contrastively analyzed, and cross validation of the evaluation results is performed in order to provide theoretical guidance and support for the application of two fuzzy evaluation models in practice.