Innovative capabilities of a firm and the use of technical alliances

Relationships between types of innovative capabilities of firms, the amount and nature of technical alliance usage, and the extent and types of problems associated with those alliances are explored with firms in the semiconductor industry. Results show that, although firms need radical and/or incremental product and process innovation capabilities to compete successfully, they are likely to have core capabilities which are either product focused or process focused. Firms can reconcile radical and incremental R&D cultures, but find it more difficult to bridge the product-versus-process divide. Firms with strong capabilities are found to engage in more technical alliances. This is particularly true of firms with radical innovation capabilities. The study also finds that firms engage in technical alliances more often to supplement rather than complement their capabilities. Firms experience more problems in acquiring product innovation capabilities through alliances meant for new technology development than they do in acquiring process innovation capabilities.

[1]  S. Wheelwright,et al.  Restoring Our Competitive Edge: Competing Through Manufacturing , 1984 .

[2]  B. Wernerfelt,et al.  A Resource-Based View of the Firm , 1984 .

[3]  D. Teece.  Profiting from technological innovation: Implications for integration, collaboration, licensing and public policy , 1993 .

[4]  Richard N. Langlois.  Microelectronics : an industry in transition , 1988 .

[5]  Karel Cool,et al.  Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive advantage , 1989 .

[6]  J. Hagedoorn.  Understanding the rationale of strategic technology partnering: Nterorganizational modes of cooperation and sectoral differences , 1993 .

[7]  Margaret A. Peteraf.  The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource‐based view , 1993 .

[8]  J. Hagedoorn,et al.  Inter-firm partnerships and co-operative strategies in core technologies , 1990 .

[9]  J. Ettlie,et al.  Organization Strategy and Structural Differences for Radical Versus Incremental Innovation , 1984 .

[10]  James M. Hulbert,et al.  Profiles of Product Innovators Among Large U.S. Manufacturers , 1992 .

[11]  Kwaku Atuahene-Gima,et al.  Inward Technology Licensing as an Alternative to Internal R&D in New Product Development: A Conceptual Framework , 1992 .

[12]  Jens Frøslev Christensen.  Asset profiles for technological innovation , 1995 .

[13]  Tailan Chi.  Trading in strategic resources: Necessary conditions, transaction cost problems, and choice of exchange structure , 1994 .

[14]  Beverly B. Tyler,et al.  Evaluating technological collaborative opportunities: A cognitive modeling perspective , 1995 .

[15]  Harbir Singh.  Managing for Joint Venture Success , 1986 .

[16]  R. Duane Ireland,et al.  RELATIONSHIPS AMONG CORPORATE LEVEL DISTINCTIVE COMPETENCIES, DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY, CORPORATE STRUCTURE AND PERFORMANCE , 1986 .

[17]  J. Barney.  Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[18]  Francis Bidault,et al.  Innovating through alliances: expectations and limitations , 1994 .

[19]  Peter J. Lane,et al.  Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning , 1998 .

[20]  Margaret R. Sheen,et al.  The importance of complementary assets in the development of smart technology , 1995 .

[21]  P. M. Rao,et al.  Growing importance of marketing strategies for the software industry , 1994 .

[22]  Noel P. Greis,et al.  External partnering as a response to innovation barriers and global competition in biotechnology , 1995 .

[23]  Christopher Freeman,et al.  The economics of technical change , 1994 .

[24]  M. Tushman,et al.  Technological Discontinuities and Organizational Environments , 1986 .

[25]  John E. Ettlie,et al.  Firm size and product innovation , 1987 .

[26]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[27]  Kim B. Clark,et al.  Architectural Innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of , 1990 .

[28]  R. Grant.  Chapter 8 – Prospering in Dynamically-Competitive Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration , 1999 .

[29]  A. Weiss,et al.  Technological Infrastructure and the Implementation of Technological Strategies , 1989 .

[30]  J. Dutton,et al.  The Adoption of Radical and Incremental Innovations: An Empirical Analysis , 1986 .

[31]  Malcolm S. Salter,et al.  Diversification Through Acquisition: Strategies for Creating Economic Value , 1979 .

[32]  Shaker A. Zahra,et al.  Accelerating New Product Development and Successful Market Introduction , 1993 .

[33]  J. Hagedoorn,et al.  The effect of strategic technology alliances on company performance. , 1994 .

[34]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  Fortune favors the prepared firm , 1994 .

[35]  William J. Abernathy,et al.  Patterns of Industrial Innovation , 1978 .

[36]  Stephen Stinson,et al.  Chiral Drugs: New single-isomer products on the chiral drug market create demand for enantiomeric intermediates and enantioselective technologies , 1994 .

[37]  M. Hobday,et al.  The limits of silicon valley: a critique of network theory , 1994 .