Technological knowledge base, R&D organization structure and alliance formation: Evidence from the biopharmaceutical industry

We explore how an incumbent firm's internal knowledge and organization structure influences its strategic alliance formation. We propose that the firm's knowledge breadth and the centrality of its R&D organization structure positively influence its absorptive capacity, and consequently, its propensity to form strategic alliances. We also argue that the centrality of the R&D organization structure may be a substitute for the breadth of the knowledge base. We validate our ideas using data on 2647 strategic alliances formed over the period of 1993-2002 by 43 major biopharmaceutical firms in the U.S. and Europe. Our discussion focuses on the application of the knowledge-based view of the firm to strategic alliance research. The implications for public policy in the biopharmaceutical industry are also emphasized.     

Sitting on the Fence: Integrating the two worlds of scientific discovery and invention within the firm

Applying a within-firm perspective to the topic of the division of innovative labor, I explore the organization of scientific discovery at the firm level — specialized or integrated with invention. Using data on inventors and authors related to U.S. publicly-traded science-performing firms for the period 1980–2015, the paper deepens our understanding of the determinants and the tradeoffs associated with the strategic choice of scientific discovery organization. I show that integration is related to a tradeoff between short-term applied R&D and long-term fundamental R&D; while integration is beneficial for invention, it has adverse effects on its scientific output, which decrease invention in the long run. The negative relationship between integration and publication reduces the direct increase in patents due to integration by approximately 90%. To better understand firms’ R&D organizational choice, I present internal and external factors that have implications on the benefits and costs associated with integration: reliance on science, stage of technology, external market for technology, and R&D spillins. Finally, I present consistent implications in terms of market value and show that value creation is related to organizational structure.     

Organizational and human resource management and innovation: Which management practices are linked to product and/or process innovation?

We examine the determinants of firms’ innovation success, using the firm-level data from the Japanese National Innovation Survey. We focus on the relationship between organizational and human resource management practices for research and development (R&D) and product/process innovation. We find that interdivisional cooperation/teams and the creation/relocation/integration of R&D centers are positively associated with both product and process innovation. Having board members with an R&D background is positively associated with product innovation, implying that top-down R&D decision-making may be important for firms to introduce new products. Among the factors examined, personnel assessment reflecting R&D outcomes appears to have an especially strong relationship with product innovation. Moreover, the positive relationship between the creation/relocation/integration of R&D centers and innovation success suggests that drastic organizational changes can work as a clear signal of firms’ determination to pursue an innovation-oriented strategy and help to accelerate innovation success.     

吸收能力、组织整合、创造力与创新绩效的关系研究

探索吸收能力对创新绩效的内在影响机理是战略研究领域的重要议题。本文从知识创造的视角分析了组织创造力和组织整合对吸收能力—创新绩效这一关系的影响。以307家中国企业的调研数据,运用基于自助法(Bootstrapping)的调节的中介的检验方法对研究假设进行了实证检验,发现:组织创造力中介了吸收能力对创新绩效的影响;组织整合增强了组织创造力与创新绩效之间的关系;且组织创造力的中介效应随着组织整合的增强而增大。     

Knowledge integration in the shadow of tacit spillovers: Empirical evidence from U.S. R&D labs

Integrating knowledge across a firm's value chain (e.g. between R&D, marketing and manufacturing functions), which we denote “Knowledge Integration” (KI), has been consistently found to be a strong predictor of product innovation performance in the management literature. Such cross-functional integration does not occur by chance, but by design, as a result of managerial practices and organizational arrangements. The significant heterogeneity characterizing the diffusion of cross-functional integration across firms is suggestive of the well-known tension between internal and external diffusion of knowledge. In this paper, we argue that the hidden cost of KI is to expose firms to a higher risk of knowledge leakages and provide the first systematic empirical evidence of this apparent tension between internal and external knowledge flows. Based on data from the CMU Survey (one of the rare datasets offering observables on both sides of the tension for a representative set of R&D active firms in the US), we investigate the impact of knowledge spillovers to competitors on internal cross-functional knowledge integration involving the R&D function among manufacturing firms. We find that the intensity of (tacit) R&D knowledge spillovers at the industry-level has a negative and significant impact on the likelihood that firms adopt or achieve KI. Our results therefore suggest that firms may trade their optimal innovative performance against superior appropriability of their rents.     

战略联盟与一体化：多渠道研发外包背景下的组织比较

垄断的下游企业可与两个研发单位中的一个组成三种组织形式:相互独立、战略联盟和一体化.在研发竞赛中,相关研发单位与下游企业间的不同组织形式会影响另一研发单位的上游市场进入决策及投资决策.在相互独立和战略联盟两种组织形式下,研发单位都进入上游市场进而下游企业有着双重研发外包渠道.然而,战略联盟恒占优于相互独立.在战略联盟与一体化的比较中,尽管一体化可享有灵活性收益,但另一研发单位不进入上游市场进而下游企业的研发外包渠道被削减;而在战略联盟的组织形式下,下游企业虽不能享有灵活性收益,但能拥有多重研发外包渠道.其结果是,如果新产品市场规模的不确定性较大(小),那么一体化将(被)占优于战略联盟.     

研发联盟企业间知识共享影响因素的实证研究

由于研发联盟企业间的知识共享跨越了组织的边界，因此具有更为复杂的机制。本文通过分析研发联盟企业间知识共享的微观机制，从合作伙伴的技术资源强度、企业的组织学习能力、技术知识的壁垒属性、伙伴间的相容性水平等四个方面探讨了研发联盟企业间知识共享的影响因素，并采用结构方程模型（SEM）结合151家企业的调查数据，实证研究了上述四个因素对研发联盟知识共享绩效的影响作用。最后提出了研发联盟改善知 知识共享绩效的措施以及本文进一步研究的方向。     

绩效反馈还是审时度势：企业研发搜索行为的策略选择研究

随着互联网、5G等新一代信息技术的迅猛发展,企业需要跨越组织边界,通过研发搜索行为捕捉创新机会、激发创新灵感、培养新技能从而提升企业的创新能力,但研发搜索行为是问题使然还是预知先知是企业研发中的一个重要的战略问题。本文基于组织行为理论,系统研究了绩效反馈、审时度势以及在联盟惯例的调节下,他们对企业研发搜索行为选择的影响。研究发现：当绩效反馈低于期望值时,企业会加强研发搜索;当绩效反馈高于期望值时,企业会减少研发搜索;当决策者预期未来绩效高于未来期望值时,企业会减少研发搜索。当绩效反馈低于期望值和预期未来绩效优于未来期望绩效时,联盟惯例在其中发挥负向的调节作用,但是当绩效反馈高于期望值时,联盟惯例强化了企业的搜索行为。研究结论对指导企业进行研发搜索行为的策略选择,有效利用外部资源,推动企业创新,提升企业核心竞争力具有重要的理论和实践意义。     

国际化行为对高新技术企业创新绩效的影响机理——基于吸收能力的中介效应

国际化已成为新兴经济体国家实现创新追赶的重要战略选择。本文利用2014-2016年879家高新技术企业相关数据,针对企业多种国际化行为对创新绩效的影响进行理论分析与实证检验。并突破传统资源观和学习观,验证企业吸收能力在国际化行为与创新绩效间的中介作用及研发投入的调节作用。结果表明：1.国际化行为显著促进企业创新绩效提升,其中海外人才促进效果最强,海外出口次之,海外研发最弱。2.企业吸收能力在部分国际化行为与创新绩效间存在中介作用。3.研发投入在不同国际化行为与吸收能力间均存在调节作用,效果不同。     

国际R＆D的动机、活动与组织:一个研究评述

国际R&D与经济全球化相关联,现已成为跨国公司寻求全球竞争优势的一个重要途径。自上世纪九十年代以来,其发展表现出了三个特点:一是明确的战略动机;二是在多样化活动前提下,突出组织学习和扩展创新的基础;三是倾向集成的R&D组织结构。本文以文献评述形式对此作了介绍,最后简介了国际R&D机构主任的配备情况。     

Technological similarity,post-acquisition R&D reorganization,and innovation performance in horizontal acquisitions

This paper aims to disentangle the mechanisms through which technological similarity between acquiring and acquired firms influences innovation in horizontal acquisitions. We develop a theoretical model that links technological similarity to: (i) two key aspects of post-acquisition reorganization of acquired R&D operations – the rationalization of the R&D operations and the replacement of the R&D top manager, and (ii) two intermediate effects that are closely associated with the post-acquisition innovation performance of the combined firm – improvements in R&D productivity and disruptions in R&D personnel. We rely on PLS techniques to test our theoretical model using detailed information on 31 horizontal acquisitions in high- and medium-tech industries. Our results indicate that in horizontal acquisitions, technological similarity negatively affects post-acquisition innovation performance and that this negative effect is not mediated by the reorganization of the acquired R&D operations. However, replacing the acquired firm's R&D top manager leads to R&D productivity improvements that positively affect innovation performance.     

Innovation performance and channels for international technology spillovers: Evidence from Chinese high-tech industries

This paper empirically investigates the impact of different channels for international technology spillover on the innovation performance of Chinese high-tech industries, using panel data analysis. We report that learning-by-exporting (and importing) promotes innovation in Chinese indigenous firms. Foreign R&D activities by multinational enterprises in a host country significantly affect the innovation performance of domestic firms only when absorptive ability is taken into account. The findings indicate that both international technology spillover sources and indigenous efforts jointly determine the innovation performance of Chinese high-tech sectors.     

Selective subsidies,entrepreneurial founders' human capital,and access to R&D alliances

We investigate if and to what extent the receipt of a “selective” subsidy – a public subsidy awarded through a competitive procedure – helps new technology-based firms (NTBFs) to access R&D alliances. In particular, we theoretically enquire and empirically analyze which founding team-level characteristics allow NTBFs to: i) get a selective subsidy; and ii) access an R&D alliance with another firm or a public research organization/university, once the subsidy is awarded. We use a sample of 902 NTBFs that operate in Italy, where industrial policy has never had an explicit and exclusive mandate neither for targeting NTBFs nor for easing their access to R&D networks. By means of several identification strategies and estimation methods, our results point to the relevance of selective subsidies in facilitating NTBFs to enter R&D alliances, independently from the objective of the policy measure. Second, founders’ technical education figures as a key determinant to get the first selective subsidy. Finally, founders’ previous industry-specific work experience allows NTBFs to better exploit the selective subsidy, by positively moderating the impact of the subsidy on the likelihood to establish a corporate R&D alliance.     

Does Europe perform too little corporate R&D? A comparison of EU and non-EU corporate R&D performance

This paper examines whether there are significant differences in private R&D investment performance between the EU and the US and, if so, why. The study is based on data from the 2008 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. The investigation assesses the effects of three very distinct factors that can determine the relative size of the overall R&D intensities of the two economies: these are the influence of sector composition (structural effect) vis-à-vis the intensity of R&D in each sector (intrinsic effect) and company demographics. The paper finds that the lower overall corporate R&D intensity for the EU is the result of sector specialisation (structural effect) - the US has a stronger sectoral specialisation in the high R&D intensity (especially ICT-related) sectors than the EU does, and also has a much larger population of R&D investing firms within these sectors. Since aggregate R&D indicators are so closely dependent on industrial structures, many of the debates and claims about differences in comparative R&D performance are in effect about industrial structure rather than sectoral R&D performance. These have complex policy implications that are discussed in the closing section.     

Exploration versus exploitation in technology firms: The role of compensation structure for R&D workforce

We investigate the relationship between a firm’s compensation structure and the extent to which its innovation is more exploration versus exploitation oriented. Specifically, we assess two aspects of a firm’s compensation design—horizontal dispersion within job levels and vertical tournament incentives between job levels. A six-year panel of compensation records of 671,028 employees working at 81 U.S.-based high technology firms between 1997 and 2002 are used to construct measures that characterize a firm's pay structure, which are linked to these firms’ patents filed in the U.S. We find that firms with higher-powered tournament incentives in vertical compensation structure report higher fraction of innovation directed towards exploration. Horizontal pay dispersion, on the other hand, shows a negative relationship with the exploration in firms where R&D employees’ age variance is low. In firms where R&D employees’ age variance is high, the negative relationship between horizontal pay dispersion and exploration is muted.     

R&D intensity, value appropriation and integration patterns within organizational boundaries

Complementary insights from Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and the Resource-Based View (RBV) of the firm are combined to predict the relationship between firm specific technological knowledge and patterns of integration within organizational boundaries. The findings show that the level of Research and Development (R&D) intensity (representing the creation of firm specific technological knowledge) has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the propensity of firms to integrate activities within organizational boundaries. At low levels of R&D intensity, firms’ propensity to integrate their activities is low, but increases with escalating levels of R&D intensity in order to avoid the misappropriation of value generated by technological knowledge. However, beyond a certain R&D intensity level, the propensity to integrate activities declines, since the level of technological knowledge is high enough to prevent imitation by third parties. As expected we further find that firms which follow this integration pattern outperform those which do not. As the level of R&D intensity increases, the integration of production and marketing activities enables firms to improve performance until a certain R&D intensity threshold, after which such integration negatively affects performance.     

R&D co-operation and innovation a microeconometric study on French firms

The scope of this paper is to report new empirical evidence on the determinants of R&D co-operation. Indeed, the literature on the capabilities of firms emphasises the role of knowledge in the performance and evolution of firms who use knowledge developed in others to build their own knowledge capital. R&D co-operation between firms is one of the many strategies by which this knowledge may be transmitted. Several theoretical models have stressed that R&D co-operation is more likely when the level of spillovers is high. While this supposition is used in many theoretical models, it has rarely been tested before. Our results do not lend strong support to this intuition. Indeed, our spillover variables (national pure spillovers, national rent spillovers and imports of machine tools), which were supposed to match the theoretical notion of spillovers used in these theoretical models have a positive but not a significant role when explaining R&D co-operation. The R&D co-operation increases with size and with R&D intensity, but not with market share. It also increases with the budget spent on paying license fees and on acquiring patents and labour from foreign firms. In this study, we also analyse the determinants of innovation. In more precise terms, we compare the effects of R&D co-operation to those played by traditional internal factors and those exerted by external, pure and rent spillovers on the innovation capacity of the firms. Our results show that the commercial success of innovations of French firms depends mainly on size, market share, R&D intensity and human capital. Inward FDI from industrialised countries exerts a positive and significant effect. The finding highlights the important role of the absorptive capacity of firms. Spillover measurements, such as the acquisition of machine tools, foreign patents, licenses, and technological opportunities have a positive impact on innovation.     

The synergy of corporate r&d and competitive strategies: An exploratory study in australian high-technology companies

This project examines how Australian high technology companies approach the synergy between corporate R&D and strategic management. Research hypotheses are tested empirically using the data collected from a number of Australian firms in three selected industrial sectors: information technology, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. The results suggest that the responding firms have been aware of the importance of integrating R&D decision making with corporate strategic management as well as the consistency between R&D and competitive strategies. In particular, the development of higher value-added products with a focus on a particular market segment has been stressed in directing corporate R&D programs and projects.     

Impacts of internal R&D on firms’ performance and energy consumption: Evidence from Ethiopian firms

In recent decades, with the rapid development of the knowledge economy and science, countries have embraced technical innovation and have gradually increased investment in research and development (R&D). A vast literature indicates that the relationship between R&D and firm performance is highly complex. The evidence suggests that R&D positively influences firm performance, yet findings on the process by which this happens are mixed. Rigorous analyses are required on how R&D investments affect energy consumption. This study explores the impact of R&D investment on the performance and energy consumption of 476 firms in Ethiopia by employing a combination of fixed-effect, propensity score matching, and endogenous treatment effect estimation methods. The empirical results reveal that investment in R&D positively influences both innovation and long-term financial performance but negatively impacts short-term financial performance and energy consumption. The results also show that the impacts of R&D activities vary significantly across different categories of firms, confirming that heterogeneity may be an issue among the firms considered. The results also indicate that the availability of credit is a more important moderating factor in the relationship between R&D investment and firm performance than the legal system is. These results have important implications for firms with growing R&D operations, especially those in developing countries such as Ethiopia. Ethiopian firms should invest more in R&D activities, such as in fundamental and applied research, to improve performance and enhance competitiveness.     

B吸收能力、知识整合对组织创新和组织绩效的影响研究/B

选取我国珠三角地区124家高科技企业作为实证研究对象,探讨吸收能力、知识整合、组织创新与组织绩效之间的关系。本文的研究结果表明：（1）吸收能力对知识整合有显著的直接正向影响;（2）吸收能力对组织创新没有显著的直接正向影响;（3）知识整合对组织创新有显著的直接正向影响;（4）组织创新对组织绩效有显著的直接正向影响。该实证结果对于人们正确