Researchers agree that alliance networks can be an important instrument in a firm's innovation process, but there is limited empirical evidence on actually how they facilitate the creation of new knowledge for exploratory innovation. The research question is what alliance network configuration is optimal for exploratory innovation. The present study investigated the interaction between a firm's alliance portfolio structure (the micro-level) and the industry alliance network structure (the macro-level), and it empirically tested how their interaction may be affecting the exploratory innovation outcome of network participating firms in the biotechnology industry. The paper uses data from exploratory patents filed by 455 dedicated biotechnology firms in 1986-1999 and an overall network comprising 2,933 technological alliances over the same period. The results indicate that, in the case of biotechnology, firms with high exploratory innovation output have short path indirect access to many other firms (micro-level), and operate in dense industry alliance networks centralized around a few key firms (macro-level), and that these effects are curvilinear.R&D Management 42, 1, 2012.

A technological discontinuity can disrupt an existing technological regime and it has a profound effect on firms' economic activities and outcomes. The period between the discontinuity and the establishment of the new regime is defined as an era of ferment, which can unleash significant innovation opportunities while creating great uncertainty in the business environment. Although it is well-known that firms often use alliances both to respond to uncertainty and facilitate innovation, little is known about the alliance behavior of firms during an era of ferment and how it can affect their exploratory and exploitative innovation output. The article tests this relationship using as large panel sample of alliances during the era of ferment in the biotechnology industry and the exploitative and exploratory innovation output of biotechnology firms during that time. The results suggest that managers in charge of innovation and alliance formation should proactively optimize the design their firms' ego-network structure as follows: First, alliance ego-network centrality supports exploitative innovation because a central firm coherently and reliably performs experiential search to source complementary knowledge through 'pipeline' alliances to the 'whole' network. Moreover, very high centrality offers little additional gains in coherence and reliability of knowledge received from the network because it restricts access to novel information beyond the focal firm's ego-network neighborhood. Second, ego-network structural holes support exploratory innovation because they provide efficient access through cognitive search to non-redundant flows of information and knowledge, offering ample opportunities for knowledge recombinations. Third, a focal firm's partners' centrality positively affects its exploratory innovation because the focal firm can learn by observing and cognitively evaluating the behavior and associated innovation outcomes of their central partners.

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Researchers studying the structural embeddedness of firms in networks have focused on its effects on economic behaviour, strategic action and competitive behaviour, but network embeddedness as a source of firm value per se has been largely overlooked. I argue that neglecting the network context in which firms are embedded leads to an incomplete understanding of the value of the firm. I seek to understand how a focal firm's structural embeddedness network characteristics function as mechanisms that elucidate the value of its knowledge-intensive exchanges. This paper presents a framework that identifies two processes of knowing exchange value, namely knowing through a learning bandwagon and knowing through a fad bandwagon. I argue that knowing value as a learning bandwagon is enabled by the normative and cognitive proximity of exchange partners, and that this is facilitated by the embeddedness of the focal firm in dense network structures. Knowing value as a fad bandwagon is based on a positional construction of the focal firm's status, which is determined by the centrality of the focal firm's network partners in their corresponding networks. This is a ranking system based on positional network data, whose efficacy stems from the inability of firms to manipulate their network positions. Copyright 2003 Blackwell Publishing Ltd..

This study examines how the pattern of a firm's alliance ego-network, as well as that of its partners, may have a contingent effect on the firm's patenting behaviour for exploratory and exploitative innovation. The research data came from 1894 strategic alliances by 455 biotechnology firms and their patents in the period 1986-1999. The study concluded that centrality in the whole alliance network is beneficial to patenting within many secondary classes (i.e., exploitative innovation) because it enables experiential search for knowledge, whereas a focal firm's partners' centrality is beneficial to patenting across many primary classes (exploratory innovation) because it enables cognitive search for knowledge. Experience in making alliances was also found to be significant for all types of innovation output, indicating that network pattern contingency and alliance experience as a capability have to be present simultaneously to deliver enhanced innovation performance.

PurposeThis paper uses the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explain entrepreneurial intentions (EIs) among students from different South-East (SE) European countries, considering various personal and situational variables. The authors examine how the regional cultural context affects individual perceptions and beliefs about entrepreneurship, which in turn form the basis of the cognitive antecedents of the TPB model.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 850 respondents, the authors estimate a two-level model, addressing the issue of endogeneity in the relationship between attitudes and beliefs and the respondents' EI. Specifically, the authors focus on heterogeneity across nations in attitudes toward entrepreneurial behavior (ATEB), subjective norms (SN) and perceived behavioral control (PBC).FindingsThe results show that the perceived behavioral control and the attitude toward entrepreneurial behavior are the main determinants of Balkan students' EI. The authors find that the role of SE European culture in entrepreneurship intentions does not follow the Western pattern. In this particular regional environment dominated by collectivist culture, students' EIs are influenced more by cooperation, caring for others and other non-monetary benefits.Research limitations/implicationsLike any study, this study has limitations. First, all the variables were measured using a single questionnaire. Although common method bias was shown not to be an issue, in future research different variables should be measured with different methods. For instance, using the items by Liñán and Chen (2009) which were developed in the United States of America, to measure SE European students' entrepreneurial perceived behavioral control might ignore some requisite resources or abilities typical for SE European students, such as personal relational network (similar to the notion of guanxi in China (see, e.g. Hwang et al., 2009). Second, Busenitz et al. (2000) indicate that cross-national differences in entrepreneurship are best explained by a broader set of institutions, i.e. educational and governmental support agencies. In general, the empirical evidence on the relationship between national culture and entrepreneurial behavior is mixed and this is generally agreed that an important issue that needs to be considered is the interactions between cultural values, social institutions, industry characteristics and outcomes such as entrepreneurship (Hayton et al., 2002). In the future, similar studies could include respondents with a larger dispersion of prior education, age, and human, social and financial capital.Practical implicationsThe existence of support received in the family environment and the lack of individualistic and competitive aspirations create a more favorable environment for a young person to become entrepreneur. This must be taken seriously into account by educators and policy makers aiming at encouraging entrepreneurship, because in the societies studied here the motivation of prospective entrepreneurs depends on totally different drivers than those usually encountered in the Western world. Furthermore, from a gender perspective, the authors' study suggests that in societies with stronger family ties and more gender discrimination, an individual's closer social environment may not create the appropriate context for women to decide to become entrepreneurs.Social implicationsA strong hierarchical culture in a society goes against the intention of becoming an entrepreneur. That is, when people accept that social mobility is low and, thus, reversing people's relative positions in the society is unlikely, people are less prone to becoming entrepreneurs. In Western societies, where collectivism is low, the contrary holds. In the societies considered here, where family and social links are strong, entrepreneurship is considered to be a rather safer option, which is encouraged by non-individualistic values and is negatively associated with aggressive competitiveness. In those societies, formal institutions such as the government and the educational sector could play an important role to support prospective female entrepreneurs (Borges et al., 2021).Originality/valueThe motivation of prospective entrepreneurs in SE European countries depends on totally different drivers than those usually encountered in the Western world.

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