Alliance network diversity and innovation ambidexterity: The differential roles of industrial diversity, geographical diversity, and functional diversity

20Citations
Citations of this article
90Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

Innovation ambidexterity, namely, performing exploitative and exploratory innovation simultaneously, is important for high-tech firms to achieve sustainable success. This can be achieved by building an egocentric alliance network. Research into the influence of alliance network diversity on innovation ambidexterity is seeing more attention. However, the differences among multiple alliance network diversities are unclear. Grounded on a knowledge-based view, organizational learning theory, and transaction cost theory, this study investigates in-depth the roles of geographical diversity, industrial diversity, and functional diversity of the alliance network. The empirical analysis based on panel data, including alliance data from the SDC Joint & Venture database and patent data from the Derwent Innovation Index database of 106 top high-tech firms from electronic information and biopharmaceutical industries, suggests that industrial diversity enhances firm innovation ambidexterity, geographical diversity impedes firm innovation ambidexterity, and functional diversity shows an inverted U-shaped relationship with firm innovation ambidexterity. These results provide practical suggestions about alliance network diversity configuration and innovation ambidexterity construction for high-tech firms.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Zhang, G., Tang, C., & Qi, Y. (2020). Alliance network diversity and innovation ambidexterity: The differential roles of industrial diversity, geographical diversity, and functional diversity. Sustainability (Switzerland), 12(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/su12031041

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free