Leveraging Suppliers for Product Innovation Performance: The Moderating Role of Intellectual Capital

Abstract

This article scrutinizes the link between supplier leveraging and product innovation performance with the contingency of intellectual capital. Supplier leveraging refers to the utilization of knowledge obtained from suppliers for the benefit of the firm and product innovation performance to the firm's ability to introduce new and radically different products. Intellectual capital is represented by the trichotomy of structural, human, and social capital. Applying the knowledge-based view, a positive moderation effect emanating from structural and human capital is hypothesized, with however a negative moderation effect emanating from social capital. The expectation for the positive moderation is grounded in the enabling knowledge processing capabilities of structural and human capital, enhancing the effectiveness of supplier leveraging for the generation of product innovation performance. The negative moderation of social capital is suggested due to it likely limiting the transferability and aggregation capacity for knowledge, in addition to also potentially questioning the legitimacy of the suppliers' information, and thus making knowledge leveraged from suppliers less effective in informing product innovation performance. Data collected from 576 manufacturing firms confirm these hypotheses. Overall, by considering the interplay between supplier leveraging and intellectual capital, and its effect on product innovation performance, this study offers important new insight on the dynamics governing product innovations within supply chains.

Building supply chain relational capital: The impact of supplier and customer leveraging on innovation performance

“…Our results indicate that supplier and customer leveraging directly impacts the innovation performance. These findings are in line with related studies (Chang, Wong, & Chiu, 2019;Nguyen & Harrison, 2019;Schoenherr, 2018;West & Bogers, 2014) that assert that knowledge gained from leveraging suppliers/customers enhances the innovation performance, by spreading the innovation risk among the partners and reducing the level of outcome uncertainty. This enables the SC partners to engage in high-risk innovative activities outside the firm's boundary (Pouwels & Koster, 2017).…”

“…The literature has distinguished three streams of research that examine supplier and customer's knowledge as SC leveraging: first focuses on the acquisition process (Buenechea-Elberdin, Sáenz, & Kianto, 2018;Letmathe, Schweitzer, & Zielinski, 2012;Song, Van Der Bij, & Weggeman, 2005), second concentrates on the process of sharing knowledge (Allameh, 2018;Lee, Swink, & Pandejpong, 2011;Wang, Wang, & Liang, 2014) and third investigates the knowledge application process (Nguyen & Harrison, 2019;Song et al, 2005;Wagner & Bode, 2014). For the purpose of this study, considering the tenets of the three streams, we define a company supplier and customer leveraging as the extent to which the firm uses the knowledge obtained from the suppliers and customers in enhancing their innovation activities (Nguyen & Harrison, 2019;Schoenherr, 2018).…”

“…Studies such as Nguyen, Onofrei, Truong, and Lockrey (2020); Canevari‐Luzardo, Berkhout, and Pelling (2019); and Du, Zhang, and Feng (2018) have highlighted important benefits that companies can achieve from working closely with the immediate SC actors. By leveraging knowledge obtained from suppliers and customers, firms can enhance their innovation activities (Schoenherr, 2018), green performance (Du et al, 2018), operational performance, and customer satisfaction (Chavez, Yu, Feng, & Wiengarten, 2016). Such SC collaborations can create unique opportunities for companies to enhance their innovation performance (IP).…”

Unleashing the importance of creativity, experience and intellectual capital in the adaptation of export marketing strategy and competitive position

“…Intellectual capital is one of the important internal environmental factors that influences management strategy related to innovative and [ 60 ]. Newness, uniqueness and radically different products can be possible through intellectual skills and intellectual abilities [ 61 ]. IC configures internal processes of organizations-resulting newness in building new product strategy [ 62 ].…”

Territorial features of value orientations and satisfaction with the studies of student youth in the Republic of Tatarstan

“…Sustainable development is understood as a system of organization of society, in which the needs of the current generation are not satisfied at the expense of the possibilities of meeting the needs of future generations. The preservation of natural, human [1][2][3][4] and intellectual [5][6][7] capital, minimization of external effects (externalities) for future generations is considered as the basic principle of sustainable development. With this approach, the key importance is given to the stability of the territory in general, and urban society in particular.…”