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The management of firms’ alliance network positioning: Implications for innovation

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  • Soda, Giuseppe

Abstract

In spite of the frequent calls for a much more integrated approach, the field of management still faces the ever continuing challenges in attempting to bridge the gap between academic research and managerial actions and practices. The field of strategic alliances and firms’ networks are those among which research and practice are more diverging. Trying to cover this separation, the article presents an empirical research on automotive industry that investigates the effects on innovation performance of the position that firms occupy in the network of alliances. The hypothesis that guides this research is that innovation is generated not only from the resources that a company is able to develop internally, but also through access to resources and capabilities owned by the external companies and organizations that the firm itself is tied to through alliances and cooperation agreements. Beyond this broad argument, the paper links tightly research and practice showing way and how the quality of access to resources owned by partners is influenced by the position occupied in the network of alliances and not only by the existence of single collaborative ties. Assuming a managerial approach which relies on the milestones of network research, different types of positioning in the network of alliances are discussed and tested on their impact on innovation.

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  • Soda, Giuseppe, 2011. "The management of firms’ alliance network positioning: Implications for innovation," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 377-388.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eurman:v:29:y:2011:i:5:p:377-388
    DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2011.03.004
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    Cited by:

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    2. Chauvet, Vincent & Chollet, Barthélemy & Soda, Giuseppe & Huault, Isabelle, 2011. "The contribution of network research to managerial culture and practice," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 321-334.
    3. Yibo Lyu & Quanshan Liu & Binyuan He & Jingfei Nie, 2017. "Structural embeddedness and innovation diffusion: the moderating role of industrial technology grouping," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(2), pages 889-916, May.
    4. Castro, Ignacio & Casanueva, Cristóbal & Galán, José Luis, 2014. "Dynamic evolution of alliance portfolios," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 423-433.
    5. Vas, Zsófia & Gyurkovics, János, 2021. "Összefüggések a hálózatok jellemzői és a vállalkozások innovációs teljesítménye között. Szakirodalmi áttekintés [What kind of relationship can be identified between network characteristics and the ," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(11), pages 1171-1190.
    6. Rodríguez, Alicia & Hernández, Virginia & Nieto, María Jesús, 2022. "International and domestic external knowledge in the innovation performance of firms from transition economies: The role of institutions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    7. Guan, Jiancheng & Zhang, Jingjing & Yan, Yan, 2015. "The impact of multilevel networks on innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 545-559.

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