Globalization drives firms to develop product innovation through their global supply chains. While innovations generated by supply channel members, as opposed to individual partners, are playing an increasingly important role in the success of all supply chain partners, there has been limited research on how supply chain relationships cultivate the process of such innovation generation, particularly in emerging markets. Correspondingly, this study explores how multinational suppliers can develop adaptive product innovation to create competitive advantage in emerging markets. Drawing on the knowledge‐based view and transaction cost economics, this study investigates the influence of supplier involvement and other factors on supplier innovation and performance. The results of a survey of 170 multinational automobile suppliers in China provide support for most of the hypotheses. Specifically, supplier involvement in codesign has an inverted U‐shaped relationship with product innovation. Furthermore, knowledge protection, trust, and technological uncertainty are all found to drive greater product innovation. In addition, the institutional environment moderates the effect of product innovation on performance. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of how MNEs can acquire local knowledge and develop adaptive products in emerging markets.

Purpose-While the internet enjoys increasing interest regarding its potential to extend the global reach of firms, especially small and medium-sized firms (SMEs), little work has been done on the viability of the internet as a new and effective path to internationalization. Specifically, it is unclear how the internet can successfully support export marketing. The purpose of this paper is to examine the drivers and performance outcomes of two patterns of internet use supporting export marketing: the internet as an alternative to a physical presence and the internet as a sales channel. Design/methodology/approach-Data were collected from 115UK-based SMEs involved in "active online internationalization". Relationships are examined in a "soft-modeling" partial least squares (PLS) analysis. Findings-The findings suggest that online channel support positively enhances export performance for SMEs. Yet, the use of the internet as an alternative to a physical market presence does not lead to higher export performance. Specifically, born-global firms that are relying too much on the internet are prone to fall into the "virtuality trap". Entrepreneurial firms that use the internet as a sales channel can improve their overall performance, however. Research limitations/implications-This paper provides some empirical evidence of the existence of the notion of the "virtuality trap". The paper also shows that the internet can serve a valuable complementary role. Traditional exporters are likely to use the internet as a complement to, and thus to support, existing physical operations. Practical implications-Managers should focus on relationship building and on-site learning, instead of putting too much emphasis on the internet as a substitute for a physical market presence. Originality/value-The authors develop a framework and explore previously untested relationships that suggest the internet may play a complementary role in firm internationalization.

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While innovations generated by supply channel relationships, as opposed to individual partners, play an increasingly important role in the success of all supply chain partners, there has been a dearth of research in the literature on how supply chain relationships cultivate the process of such innovation generation. We explore supplier market knowledge acquisition, relationship learning, systems collaboration, and technological uncertainty as antecedents of supplier innovation generation, which is in turn hypothesized to positively affect the relationship performance of the supplier. Furthermore, supplier dependence on the buyer is investigated as a moderator of the effects of such antecedents on supplier innovation generation. Empirical tests, which used a sample of 236 Taiwanese executives, supported most of the hypotheses, and some implications of the results are discussed.

Recently, relationship learning between supply chain members has drawn a great deal of attention in the literature. In the context of the international electronics supply chain, which is characterized by cultural differences and complexity of products, relationship learning is difficult to achieve and relies largely on close collaboration between partners. The authors build on the resource-based view of the firm and adopt a communication culture theory to examine drivers and performance outcomes of relationship learning in cross-border relationships in the electronics industry. They propose a research framework in which a firm's innovativeness orientation, trust, information technology advancement, and technological uncertainty are determinants of relationship learning. In the framework, they introduce the communication cultures of the supplier and buyer as a moderator. Using 246 electronics suppliers in relationships with international original equipment manufacturer customers, the authors empirically show that innovativeness orientation, trust, and technological uncertainty affect relationship learning positively. Furthermore, the communication cultures of the supplier and buyer moderate the effects of innovativeness orientation and technological uncertainty. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications.