IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jocebs/v13y2015i2p127-146.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Explorative versus exploitative alliances: evidence from the glass industry in China

Author

Listed:
  • Vincent K.K. Leung
  • Marco Chi Keung Lau
  • Zhe Zhang
  • Flora F. Gu

Abstract

How do firms learn from their alliance partners? Do alliance learning outcomes vary among different types of alliances? Are the learning differentials contingent upon contextual factors in an emerging economy? To address these important questions, this study empirically delineates the nature of explorative and exploitative alliances, examines how they affect product and process innovations, and investigates how such effects vary in different contexts. Using a sample of 220 Chinese firms in the glass industry, we use the structural equation modeling procedure to analyze the data. We find that explorative alliances have a stronger impact on both product and process innovations than do exploitative alliances, product, and process innovations are positively related to both market and efficiency performance, and environmental turbulence enhances the impact of product and process innovations. Our findings provide implications for choosing between explorative and exploitative alliances in line with alliance objectives and firms’ resources, and environmental contexts.

Suggested Citation

  • Vincent K.K. Leung & Marco Chi Keung Lau & Zhe Zhang & Flora F. Gu, 2015. "Explorative versus exploitative alliances: evidence from the glass industry in China," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 127-146, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jocebs:v:13:y:2015:i:2:p:127-146
    DOI: 10.1080/14765284.2015.1021115
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/14765284.2015.1021115
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/14765284.2015.1021115?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    2. Wu, Fang & Cavusgil, S. Tamer, 2006. "Organizational learning, commitment, and joint value creation in interfirm relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 81-89, January.
    3. Takehiko Isobe & Shige Makino & David Montgomery, 2008. "Technological capabilities and firm performance: The case of small manufacturing firms in Japan," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 413-428, September.
    4. Zi-Lin He & Poh-Kam Wong, 2004. "Exploration vs. Exploitation: An Empirical Test of the Ambidexterity Hypothesis," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(4), pages 481-494, August.
    5. Wim Vanhaverbeke & Geert Duysters & Niels Noorderhaven, 2002. "External Technology Sourcing Through Alliances or Acquisitions: An Analysis of the Application-Specific Integrated Circuits Industry," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(6), pages 714-733, December.
    6. John Hauser & Gerard J. Tellis & Abbie Griffin, 2006. "Research on Innovation: A Review and Agenda for," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(6), pages 687-717, 11-12.
    7. Daniel A. Levinthal & James G. March, 1993. "The myopia of learning," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(S2), pages 95-112, December.
    8. Rothaermel, Frank T., 2001. "Complementary assets, strategic alliances, and the incumbent's advantage: an empirical study of industry and firm effects in the biopharmaceutical industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(8), pages 1235-1251, October.
    9. Mitchell P. Koza & Arie Y. Lewin, 1998. "The Co-Evolution of Strategic Alliances," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 255-264, June.
    10. Masaaki Kotabe & Xavier Martin & Hiroshi Domoto, 2003. "Gaining from vertical partnerships: knowledge transfer, relationship duration, and supplier performance improvement in the U.S. and Japanese automotive industries," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 293-316, April.
    11. Robert M. Grant & Charles Baden‐Fuller, 2004. "A Knowledge Accessing Theory of Strategic Alliances," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 61-84, January.
    12. Jagdip Singh, 1995. "Measurement in Cross-National Research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 26(3), pages 597-619, September.
    13. Julie Juan Li & Laura Poppo & Kevin Zheng Zhou, 2008. "Do managerial ties in China always produce value? Competition, uncertainty, and domestic vs. foreign firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 383-400, April.
    14. Simpson, Penny M. & Siguaw, Judy A. & Enz, Cathy A., 2006. "Innovation orientation outcomes: The good and the bad," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(10-11), pages 1133-1141, October.
    15. Frank T. Rothaermel & David L. Deeds, 2004. "Exploration and exploitation alliances in biotechnology: a system of new product development," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 201-221, March.
    16. Nilesh Saraf & Christoph Schlueter Langdon & Sanjay Gosain, 2007. "IS Application Capabilities and Relational Value in Interfirm Partnerships," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 320-339, September.
    17. Jane W. Lu & Paul W. Beamish, 2001. "The internationalization and performance of SMEs," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 565-586, June.
    18. Jatinder S. Sidhu & Harry R. Commandeur & Henk W. Volberda, 2007. "The Multifaceted Nature of Exploration and Exploitation: Value of Supply, Demand, and Spatial Search for Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 20-38, February.
    19. Emden, Zeynep & Yaprak, Attila & Cavusgil, S. Tamer, 2005. "Learning from experience in international alliances: antecedents and firm performance implications," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(7), pages 883-892, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Manuel Guisado-González & Jennifer González-Blanco & José Luis Coca-Pérez, 2019. "Exploration, exploitation, and firm age in alliance portfolios," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(4), pages 387-406, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Manuel Guisado-González & Jennifer González-Blanco & José Luis Coca-Pérez, 2019. "Exploration, exploitation, and firm age in alliance portfolios," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(4), pages 387-406, December.
    2. Messeni Petruzzelli, Antonio, 2019. "Trading knowledge for status: Conceptualizing R&D alliance formation to achieve ambidexterity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 36-42.
    3. Dovev Lavie & Jingoo Kang & Lori Rosenkopf, 2011. "Balance Within and Across Domains: The Performance Implications of Exploration and Exploitation in Alliances," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(6), pages 1517-1538, December.
    4. Partanen, Jukka & Kohtamäki, Marko & Patel, Pankaj C. & Parida, Vinit, 2020. "Supply chain ambidexterity and manufacturing SME performance: The moderating roles of network capability and strategic information flow," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    5. Frank T. Rothaermel & Maria Tereza Alexandre, 2009. "Ambidexterity in Technology Sourcing: The Moderating Role of Absorptive Capacity," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 759-780, August.
    6. Hyojung Kim & Namgyoo Park & Jeonghwan Lee, 2014. "How does the second-order learning process moderate the relationship between innovation inputs and outputs of large Korean firms?," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 69-103, March.
    7. Uriel Stettner & Dovev Lavie, 2014. "Ambidexterity under scrutiny: Exploration and exploitation via internal organization, alliances, and acquisitions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(13), pages 1903-1929, December.
    8. Yamakawa, Yasuhiro & Yang, Haibin & Lin, Zhiang (John), 2011. "Exploration versus exploitation in alliance portfolio: Performance implications of organizational, strategic, and environmental fit," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 287-296, March.
    9. Colombo, Massimo G. & Grilli, Luca & Piva, Evila, 2006. "In search of complementary assets: The determinants of alliance formation of high-tech start-ups," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1166-1199, October.
    10. Zhiang (John) Lin & Haibin Yang & Irem Demirkan, 2007. "The Performance Consequences of Ambidexterity in Strategic Alliance Formations: Empirical Investigation and Computational Theorizing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(10), pages 1645-1658, October.
    11. Stienstra, Miranda, 2020. "The determinants and performance implications of alliance partner acquisition," Other publications TiSEM 7fdee0c2-d4d2-4f5b-95e3-2, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    12. Choo Yeon Kim & Myung Sub Lim & Jae Wook Yoo, 2019. "Ambidexterity in External Knowledge Search Strategies and Innovation Performance: Mediating Role of Balanced Innovation and Moderating Role of Absorptive Capacity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-23, September.
    13. Massimo Colombo & Liliana Doganova & Evila Piva & Diego D’Adda & Philippe Mustar, 2015. "Hybrid alliances and radical innovation: the performance implications of integrating exploration and exploitation," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 696-722, August.
    14. Li, Yuan & Wei, Zelong & Zhao, Jie & Zhang, Chenlu & Liu, Yi, 2013. "Ambidextrous organizational learning, environmental munificence and new product performance: Moderating effect of managerial ties in China," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(1), pages 95-105.
    15. Na, Cheongho & Kim, Eungdo & Hwang, Junseok, 2014. "Research on open innovation strategy and its performance in Korea smart media industry: Focusing on user innovation strategy," 20th ITS Biennial Conference, Rio de Janeiro 2014: The Net and the Internet - Emerging Markets and Policies 106850, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    16. Paul E. Bierly & Fariborz Damanpour & Michael D. Santoro, 2009. "The Application of External Knowledge: Organizational Conditions for Exploration and Exploitation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 481-509, May.
    17. Lori Rosenkopf & Patia McGrath, 2011. "Advancing the Conceptualization and Operationalization of Novelty in Organizational Research," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1297-1311, October.
    18. Li, Zhengyu, 2016. "Essays on knowledge sourcing and technological capability : A knowledge structure perspective," Other publications TiSEM b8ff31fc-c57b-4bc3-b5a4-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    19. Shukla, Dhirendra Mani & Mital, Amita & Qureshi, Israr & Wang, Taiyuan, 2020. "Valuation effects of alliance portfolio expansion speed and strength: Evidence from high-tech firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 370-383.
    20. Dittrich, Koen & Duysters, Geert & de Man, Ard-Pieter, 2007. "Strategic repositioning by means of alliance networks: The case of IBM," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 1496-1511, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • L65 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Chemicals; Rubber; Drugs; Biotechnology; Plastics
    • N60 - Economic History - - Manufacturing and Construction - - - General, International, or Comparative

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jocebs:v:13:y:2015:i:2:p:127-146. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RCEA20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.