From collaborative research to new product development: why a central or brokered network position is not enough

Abstract

Purpose Although collaborative research is believed to be an important means of accessing external knowledge, research on whether taking a strategic network position benefits new product development (NPD) is inconclusive. This study aims to unravel the conditions under which taking a strategic position within a collaborative research network is conducive for a firm’s NPD. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on social network theory, absorptive capacity theory and knowledge recombinant studies, this study examines how strategic network positions (i.e. degree centrality and structural holes) and knowledge base cohesion (i.e. local and global cohesion) in tandem affect a firm’s NPD. A panel data set of 366 firms in the Chinese automobile sector (2002–2010) is empirically analyzed, using the panel negative binomial approach with random effects and several alternate estimation approaches. Findings This study reveals that, rather than the volume of a firm’s knowledge base, its cohesion determines how it absorbs and uses knowledge accrued from collaborative research for NPD. Specifically, this paper finds that centrally positioned firms have greater NPD when their knowledge bases are locally cohesive, while firms spanning structural holes have more NPD when their knowledge bases are globally cohesive. Originality/value Successfully transferring collaborative research outcomes into product innovation is difficult. This study contributes to the literature on strategic network positions and NPD. The findings advance the understanding of knowledge base cohesion’s moderating role in explaining how firms absorb and exploit external knowledge for internal innovation. The findings also have important implications for managers who wish to promote product innovation by engaging in collaborative research with external partners.

Effects of inventive capabilities on new product development performance: the knowledge combination view

“…Following prior studies (Wen et al. , 2021; Li and Yu, 2021; Guan and Liu, 2016), the joint patent applications are used to track the firm's R&D collaboration. We controlled the focal firm's partnership diversity to address its potential effect.…”

“…The ability to develop new products is a key component of firm innovative capabilities (Katila and Ahuja, 2002). Prior studies agree that how a firm utilizes its knowledge matters in the NPD process (Frankort, 2016;Caner and Tyler, 2015;Li and Yu, 2021). As inventing is regarded as a process of knowledge combination (Yayavaram and Ahuja, 2008;Fleming, 2001;Savino et al, 2017;Xiao et al, 2021), the second research question naturally rises:…”

“…New vehicle model announcements are regularly published by MIIT. Following previous studies (Wen et al, 2020;Li and Yu, 2021), we collected the focal firm's data on NPD by tracking the new vehicle model announcements for the period 2001-2017.…”

How do polychronicity and interfunctional coordination affect the relationship between exploratory innovation and the quality of new product development?

“…Knowledge is considered a key element in NPD and can be acquired not only at the individual level but also at the organizational level (Yan et al , 2021; Keszey, 2018; Filieri and Alguezaui, 2014). As such, prior studies emphasize that high-quality NPD requires knowledge from external cooperative enterprises (Li and Yu, 2021) or the involvement of individuals with different knowledge (Goffin and Koners, 2011; Del Vecchio et al , 2020). For example, when developing new products, firms can leverage the knowledge of individual customers (Taghizadeh et al , 2018) through crowdsourcing (Cappa et al , 2019).…”

“…First, this study enriches the antecedents of NPD quality by proposing exploratory innovation. The NPD literature has so far analyzed the knowledge of firms gained at the individual level and the organizational level, such as individual customers (Taghizadeh et al , 2018) through crowdsourcing and external cooperative enterprises (Li and Yu, 2021). However, more importantly, firms need to leverage their own efforts to improve NPD quality, such as exploratory innovation.…”