Types of technology sourcing and innovative capability: An exploratory study of Singapore manufacturing firms

Abstract Despite a variety of technology sourcing modes that have been identified in the current literature, the existing studies tend to either focus their analysis on either a single mode of sourcing or on the choice of external and internal sources. This study goes beyond the existing literature by identifying the types of various technology sourcing modes based on factor analysis. It further links the technology sourcing types with the innovative capabilities. Using a survey sample of 109 manufacturing firms in Singapore, we identified four types of technology sourcing: partnership-based; market-based; value-chain-based and internal sourcing, and showed the significant relationships between sourcing types and absorptive capability and competitive environment. The statistical results also showed varying impacts of different sourcing types on firms' innovative capability.

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

[2]  O. Williamson,et al.  The mechanisms of governance , 1996 .

[3]  Warren B. Brown.  Strategic Management of Industrial R&D , 1985 .

[4]  J. Barney.  Strategic Factor Markets: Expectations, Luck, and Business Strategy , 1986 .

[5]  Robert E. Spekman,et al.  Alliances, External Technology Acquisition, and Discontinuous Technological Change , 1997 .

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

[7]  W. Dugger.  The Economic Institutions of Capitalism , 1987 .

[8]  P. M. Podsakoff,et al.  Self-Reports in Organizational Research: Problems and Prospects , 1986 .

[9]  R. Garud,et al.  Changing competitive dynamics in network industries: An exploration of sun microsystems' open systems strategy , 1993 .

[10]  D. Ball,et al.  Strategies of biotechnology companies , 1992 .

[11]  E. Hufnagel.  Managing Complexity in High Technology Organizations , 1990 .

[12]  J. Hennart,et al.  A transaction costs theory of equity joint ventures , 1988 .

[13]  M. Tushman,et al.  Managing through Cycles of Technological Change , 1991 .

[14]  Lars Håkanson,et al.  Learning through acquisitions: Management and integration of foreign R&D laboratories , 1995 .

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

[16]  B. Kogut.  Joint ventures: Theoretical and empirical perspectives , 1988 .

[17]  B Kogut.  Theoretical and empirical perspectives , 1988 .

[18]  Eric von Hippel,et al.  Appropriability of innovation benefit as a predictor of the source of innovation , 1982 .

[19]  W. Davidson,et al.  Key Characteristics in the Choice of International Technology Transfer Mode , 1985 .

[20]  Raghu Garud,et al.  CHARGING COMPETITIVE DYNAMICS IN NETWORK INDUSTRIES: AN EXPLORATION OF SUM MICROSYSTEMS' OPEN , 1993 .

[21]  Kwaku Atuahene-Gima,et al.  Determinants of Inward Technology Licensing Intentions: An Empirical Analysis of Australian Engineering Firms , 1993 .

[22]  Donald R. Cooper,et al.  Business Research Methods , 1980 .

[23]  Rolf T. Wigand,et al.  INDUSTRY-UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN MICROELECTRONICS , 1987 .

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

[25]  Eric W. K. Tsang.  Choice of International Technology Transfer Mode: A Resource-Based View , 1997 .

[26]  Teresa M. Amabile,et al.  Assessing the Work Environment for Creativity , 1996 .

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

[28]  R. Grant.  Toward a Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm,” Strategic Management Journal (17), pp. , 1996 .

[29]  Todd R. Zenger,et al.  Organizational Economics: An Impending Revolution in Organization Theory? , 1990 .

[30]  K. R. Harrigan.  Strategies for joint ventures , 1985 .

[31]  James M. Utterback,et al.  Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation , 1996 .

[32]  G. Pisano.  The governance of innovation: Vertical integration and collaborative arrangements in the biotechnology industry☆ , 1991 .

[33]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Central problems in the management of innovation , 1986 .

[34]  Acquisition of technology-based firms , 1990 .

[35]  W. Powell,et al.  Interorganizational Collaboration and the Locus of Innovation: Networks of Learning in Biotechnology. , 1996 .

[36]  S. Zahra.  Technology strategy and financial performance: Examining the moderating role of the firm's competitive environment , 1996 .

[37]  Carolyn Y. Woo,et al.  Technology sourcing and output of established firms in a regime of encompassing technological change , 2003 .

[38]  J. Hagedoorn,et al.  External Sources of Innovative Capabilities: The Preferences for Strategic Alliances or Mergers and Acquisitions , 2002 .

[39]  K. Ruckman.  Technology sourcing through acquisitions: evidence from the US drug industry , 2005 .

[40]  A. H. Rubenstein,et al.  An exploration of factors affecting the integration of in-house R&D with external technology acquisition strategies of a firm , 1990 .

[41]  Robert F. DeVellis,et al.  Scale Development: Theory and Applications. , 1992 .

[42]  W. Ouchi,et al.  The Logic of Joint Research and Development , 1988 .

[43]  A. Arora,et al.  Markets for Technology: The Economics of Innovation and Corporate Strategy , 2002 .

[44]  C. Prahalad,et al.  The Core Competence of the Corporation , 1990 .

[45]  Terence R. Mitchell,et al.  A taxonomy of new business ventures , 1989 .

[46]  D. Teece.  Technology Transfer by Multinational Firms: The Resource Cost of Transferring Technological Know-How , 1977 .

[47]  E. Bohlin,et al.  External Technology Acquisition in Large Multi-Technology Corporations , 1992 .

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

[49]  Jürgen Hauschildt,et al.  External acquisition of knowledge for innovations—A research agenda , 1992 .

[50]  Bela Gold,et al.  Approaches to accelerating product and process development , 1987 .

[51]  M. Tushman,et al.  Technological Discontinuities and Dominant Designs: A Cyclical Model of Technological Change , 1990 .

[52]  Rosemarie H. Ziedonis,et al.  The patent paradox revisited: an empirical study of patenting in the U , 2001 .

[53]  B. Manly.  Multivariate Statistical Methods : A Primer , 1986 .

[54]  D. Teece,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1997 .

[55]  M. Porter.  The Competitive Advantage Of Nations , 1990 .

[56]  M. Hannan,et al.  The Population Ecology of Organizations , 1977, American Journal of Sociology.

[57]  Catherine P. Ailes,et al.  Impacts of research universities on technological innovation in industry: evidence from engineering research centers , 2002 .

[58]  Arshad M. Khan,et al.  Innovative and Noninnovative Small Firms: Types and Characteristics , 1989 .

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

[60]  A. Chakrabarti,et al.  Marketing and r&d strategies for biotechnology firms in the usa , 1989 .

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

[62]  Carolyn Y. Woo,et al.  The development and interpretation of entrepreneurial typologies , 1991 .

[63]  V. Chiesa,et al.  Organizing for technological collaborations: a managerial perspective , 1998 .

[64]  Staffan Jacobsson,et al.  Indicators of discontinuous technological change: an exploratory study of two discontinuities in the machine tool industry , 1997 .

[65]  Joel A. C. Baum,et al.  Evolutionary dynamics of organizations , 1996 .

[66]  M. Bolton,et al.  Imitation versus innovation: Lessons to be learned from the Japanese , 1993 .

[67]  John F. Herrmann.  Redefining the Federal Government's Role in Technology Transfer : Research Management , 1983 .

[68]  R. Coombs.  A reflection on the major themes of the 1997 R&D Management conference , 1998 .

[69]  R. J. House,et al.  Organizations: A Quantum View , 1984 .

[70]  David B. Audretsch,et al.  Innovation and Size at the Firm Level , 1991 .

[71]  Vangelis Souitaris,et al.  Technological trajectories as moderators of firm-level determinants of innovation , 2002 .

[72]  Deb Chatterji,et al.  Accessing External Sources of Technology , 1996 .

[73]  Howard E. Aldrich,et al.  Organizations and Environments , 1979 .

[74]  Rosabeth Moss Kanter,et al.  When a Thousand Flowers Bloom: Structural, Collective, and Social Conditions for Innovation in Organization , 2000 .

[75]  R. Reed,et al.  Causal Ambiguity, Barriers to Imitation, and Sustainable Competitive Advantage , 1990 .

[76]  David Wilemon,et al.  Strategic Partnering for Developing New Products , 1996 .

[77]  H. Thomas,et al.  Strategic Groups: Theory, Research and Taxonomy , 1986 .

[78]  S. Presser,et al.  Survey Questions: Handcrafting the Standardized Questionnaire. , 1988 .

[79]  O. Williamson.  Transaction-Cost Economics: The Governance of Contractual Relations , 1979, The Journal of Law and Economics.

[80]  B. Kogut,et al.  Technological capabilities and Japanese foreign direct investment in the United States , 1991 .

[81]  T. S. Robertson,et al.  TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT MODE: A TRANSACTION COST CONCEPTUALIZATION , 1998 .

[82]  Anne S. Tsui,et al.  Dealing with Discrepant Expectations: Response Strategies and Managerial Effectiveness , 1995 .

[83]  Steven Klepper,et al.  A Reprise of Size and R & D , 1996 .

[84]  C. Freeman.  Economics of Industrial Innovation , 1975 .

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

[86]  Wesley M. Cohen,et al.  R&D Appropriability, Opportunity, and Market Structure: New Evidence on Some Schumpeterian Hypotheses , 1985 .

[87]  Albert Johnson.  Industrial Research Institute's R&D Trends Forecast for 2003: As They Retarget the Purpose and Strategy of Their R&D Spending, IRI Members Are Emphasizing Value and Efficiency , 2003 .

[88]  D. Leonard-Barton,et al.  Implementation as mutual adaptation of technology and organization , 1988 .

[89]  Gary K. Jones,et al.  Determinants and performance impacts of external technology acquisition , 2001 .

[90]  O. Williamson.  Comparative Economic Organization: The Analysis of Discrete Structural Alternatives , 1994 .

[91]  Ellinor Ehrnberg,et al.  On the definition and measurement of technological discontinuities , 1995 .

[92]  Xavier Martin,et al.  Tacitness, Learning, and International Expansion: A Study of Foreign Direct Investment in a Knowledge-Intensive Industry , 2003, Organ. Sci..

[93]  J. Pennings,et al.  Technological Networking and Innovation Implementation , 1992 .

[94]  Farok J. Contractor,et al.  Choosing Between Direct Investment and Licensing: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Tests , 1984 .

[95]  C. Prahalad,et al.  Competing for the Future , 1994 .

[96]  A. Arora,et al.  COMPLEMENTARITY AND EXTERNAL LINKAGES: THE STRATEGIES OF THE LARGE FIRMS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY* , 1990 .

[97]  J. Pfeffer,et al.  The External Control of Organizations. , 1978 .

[98]  G. Hamel.  Competition for competence and interpartner learning within international strategic alliances , 1991 .

[99]  Joseph A. Cote,et al.  Lack of method variance in self-reported affect and perceptions at work: Reality or artifact? , 1989 .

[100]  J. Hagedoorn,et al.  The institutionalization and evolutionary dynamics of interorganizational alliances and networks. , 1997 .

[101]  M. Gordon,et al.  PUBLICATION RECORDS AND TENURE DECISIONS IN THE FIELD OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1996 .