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Firms’ Innovative Performance: The Mediating Role of Innovative Collaborations

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  • Lee, Lena
  • Wong, Poh Kam

Abstract

While existing studies have provided many insightful discussions on the antecedents to innovative collaborations and the benefits of collaborative behavior, few studies have focused on the mediating role of innovative collaborations in enhancing the firm’s technological innovative performance. In this paper, we investigate the mediating role of the firm’s innovative collaborations in the relation between government innovation support and the firm’s product and process innovation intensities. As a mediating factor in the innovation process, innovative collaborations form part of the innovative inputs that contribute to the firm’s product and process innovation intensities. Using arguments derived from the resource-based theory, we found that while receipts of government innovation support help increase the firm’s level of innovative inputs as observed in its collaboration intensity, it is equally important for firms to internalize management practices that encourage maximum leverage of government innovation support for pursuits of innovative collaborations. In a similar vein, while innovative collaborations are necessary for realizing innovative outputs including product and process innovations, it is not a sufficient condition for achieving strong innovative performance. The firm’s internal capabilities as observed in its learning, R&D, resource allocation, manufacturing, marketing, organizing, and strategic planning abilities have a positive influence on the relationship between innovative collaborations and innovative outputs.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee, Lena & Wong, Poh Kam, 2009. "Firms’ Innovative Performance: The Mediating Role of Innovative Collaborations," MPRA Paper 16193, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:16193
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kiman Kim & Sang Ok Choi & Sooyeon Lee, 2021. "The Effect of a Financial Support on Firm Innovation Collaboration and Output: Does Policy Work on the Diverse Nature of Firm Innovation?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(2), pages 645-675, June.
    2. Chapman, Gary & Lucena, Abel & Afcha, Sergio, 2018. "R&D subsidies & external collaborative breadth: Differential gains and the role of collaboration experience," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 623-636.
    3. de Leeuw, Tim & Lokshin, Boris & Duysters, Geert, 2014. "Returns to alliance portfolio diversity: The relative effects of partner diversity on firm's innovative performance and productivity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1839-1849.
    4. Teresa Kraśnicka & Wojciech Głód & Martyna Wronka-Pośpiech, 2016. "Management Innovation and Its Measurement," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 12(2), pages 95-121.
    5. Robert Stanisławski, 2020. "Open Innovation as a Value Chain for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Determinants of the Use of Open Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-24, April.
    6. Doohee Chung & Marco Jinhwan Kim & Jina Kang, 2019. "Influence of alliance portfolio diversity on innovation performance: the role of internal capabilities of value creation," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 13(5), pages 1093-1120, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Innovative Performance; Innovative Collaboration; Firm’s Contextual Factors;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • M1 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

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