Top

Asia Pacific Journal of Management

Published in:

01-12-2016

How do dynamic capabilities transform external technologies into firms’ renewed technological resources? – A mediation model

Authors: Jason Li-Ying, Yuandi Wang, Lutao Ning

Published in: Asia Pacific Journal of Management | Issue 4/2016

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

How externally acquired resources may become valuable, rare, hard-to-imitate, and non-substitute resource bundles through the development of dynamic capabilities? This study proposes and tests a mediation model of how firms’ internal technological diversification and R&D, as two distinctive microfoundations of dynamic technological capabilities, mediate the relationship between external technology breadth and firms’ technological innovation performance, based on the resource-based view and dynamic capability view. Using a sample of listed Chinese licensee firms, we find that firms must broadly explore external technologies to ignite the dynamism in internal technological diversity and in-house R&D, which play their crucial roles differently to transform and reconfigure firms’ technological resources.

previous article CEO transformational leadership and firm performance: A moderated mediation model of TMT trust climate and environmental dynamism

next article Economic governance, dual networks and innovative learning in five Chinese industrial clusters

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

At a higher level, so-called “second-order” capabilities (Schilke, 2014) involve the learning mechanisms that allow firms to engage in “learning to learn,” a concept that is related to double-loop learning (Argyris & Schön, 1978). To avoid conceptual complication and confusion, we do not address the “second-order” capabilities in our empirical model.

To check the robustness, we also used 1- and 2-year moving windows for all the estimation models. However, the results show no significant differences regarding the relationships among key variables. These complementary analyses are available upon request.

Acs, Z. J., & Audretsch, D. B. 1989. Patents as a measure of innovative activity. Kyklos, 42(2): 171–180.CrossRef

Adner, R., & Helfat, C. E. 2003. Corporate effects and dynamic managerial capabilities. Strategic Management Journal, 24(10): 1011–1025.CrossRef

Ahuja, G., & Katila, R. 2001. Technological acquisitions and the innovation performance of acquiring firms: A longitudinal study. Strategic Management Journal, 22(3): 197–220.CrossRef

Ambrosini, V., & Bowman, C. 2009. What are dynamic capabilities and are they a useful construct in strategic management?. International Journal of Management Reviews, 11(1): 29–49.CrossRef

Argyres, N. 1996. Capabilities, technological diversification and divisionalization. Strategic Management Journal, 17(5): 395–410.CrossRef

Argyris, C., & Schön, D. A. 1978. Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective. Reading: Addison-Wesley.

Ashby, W. R. 1965. An introduction to cybernetics. Methuen: Routledge.

Barney, J. 1991. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1): 99–120.CrossRef

Barney, J., Wright, M., & Ketchen, D. J., Jr. 2001. The resource-based view of the firm: Ten years after 1991. Journal of Management, 27(6): 625–641.CrossRef

Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. 1986. The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6): 1173–1182.CrossRef

Belsley, D. A. 1980. On the efficient computation of the nonlinear full-information maximum-likelihood estimator. Journal of Econometrics, 14(2): 203–225.CrossRef

Bingham, C. B., Eisenhardt, K. M., & Furr, N. R. 2007. What makes a process a capability? Heuristics, strategy and effective capture of opportunities. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 1(1): 27–47.CrossRef

Breschi, S., Lissoni, F., & Malerba, F. 2003. Knowledge-relatedness in firm technological diversification. Research Policy, 32(1): 69–87.CrossRef

Caloghirou, Y., Kastelli, I., & Tsakanikas, A. 2004. Internal capabilities and external knowledge sources: Complements or substitutes for innovative performance?. Technovation, 24(1): 29–39.CrossRef

Chandler, A. D., & Hikino, T. 1990. Scale and scope: The dynamics of industrial capitalism. Cambridge: Belknap.

Chandrashekhar, G. R. G. 2006. Examining the impact of internationalization on competitive dynamics. Asian Business & Management, 5(3): 399–417.CrossRef

Chen, M.-J., Su, K.-S., & Marcott, W. 2007. Competitive tension: The awareness-motivation-capability perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 50(1): 101–118.CrossRef

Chen, X., & Sun, C. 2000. Technology transfer to China: Alliances of Chinese enterprises with western technology exporters. Technovation, 20(7): 353–362.CrossRef

Chesbrough, H. W. 2003. Open Innovation: The new imperative for creating and profiting from technology. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Chiang, Y.-H., & Hung, K.-P. 2010. Exploring open search strategies and perceived innovation performance from the perspective of inter-organizational knowledge flows. R&D Management, 40(3): 292–299.CrossRef

Clogg, C. C., Petkova, E., & Shihadeh, E. S. 1992. Statistical methods for analyzing collapsibility in regression models. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 17(1): 51–74.CrossRef

Cohen, W. M., & Levinthal, D. A. 1990. Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(1): 128–152.CrossRef

Collis, D. J. 1994. Research note: How valuable are organizational capabilities?. Strategic Management Journal, 15: 143–152.CrossRef

Coombs, J. E., & Bierly, P. E. 2006. Measuring technological capability and performance. R&D Management, 36(4): 421–438.CrossRef

Cowan, R., & Foray, D. 1997. The economics of codification and the diffusion of knowledge. Industrial and Corporate Change, 6(6): 595–622.CrossRef

Cummings, J. L., & Teng, B.-S. 2003. Transferring R&D knowledge: The key factors affecting knowledge transfer success. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 20(1/2): 39–68.CrossRef

Durand, R., Bruyaka, O., & Mangematin, V. 2008. Do science and money go together? The case of the French biotech industry. Strategic Management Journal, 29(12): 1281–1299.CrossRef

Edwards, J. R., & Lambert, L. S. 2007. Methods for integrating moderation and mediation: A general analytical framework using moderated path analysis. Psychological Methods, 12(1): 1–22.CrossRef

Eisenhardt, K. M., & Martin, J. A. 2000. Dynamic capabilities: What are they?. Strategic Management Journal, 21(10/11): 1105–1121.CrossRef

Enkel, E., Gassmann, O., & Chesbrough, H. 2009. Open R&D and open innovation: Exploring the phenomenon. R&D Management, 39(4): 311–316.CrossRef

Ernst, H. 2003. Patent information for strategic technology management. World Patent Information, 25(3): 233–242.CrossRef

Fleming, L. 2001. Recombinant uncertainty in technological search. Management Science, 47(1): 117–132.CrossRef

Freedman, L. S., & Schatzkin, A. 1992. Sample size for studying intermediate endpoints within intervention trials or observational studies. American Journal of Epidemiology, 136(9): 1148–1159.

Garcia-Vega, M. 2006. Does technological diversification promote innovation?: An empirical analysis for European firms. Research Policy, 35(2): 230–246.CrossRef

Granstrand, O., Bohlin, E., Oskarsson, C., & Sjöberg, N. 2007. External technology acquisition in large multi-technology corporations. R&D Management, 22(2): 111–134.CrossRef

Granstrand, O., & Sjölander, S. 1990. The acquisition of technology and small firms by large firms. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 13(3): 367–386.CrossRef

Grant, R. M. 1996. Toward a knowledge-based theory of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 17(S2): 109–122.CrossRef

Griliches, Z. 1992. The search for R&D spillovers. Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 94: 29–47.CrossRef

Hall, B. H., Jaffe, A., & Trajtenberg, M. 2001. The NBER patent citations data file: Lessons, insights, and methodological tools. In A. Jaffe & M. Trajtenberg (Eds.). Patents, citations, and innovations. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Hausman, J. A., & Griliches, Z. 1984. Econometric models for count data with an application to the patents-R&D relationship. Economic and Political Weekly, 27: 909–938.

Helfat, C. E. 1997. Know-how and asset complementarity and dynamic capability accumulation: The case of R&D. Strategic Management Journal, 18(5): 339–360.CrossRef

Helfat, C. E., Finkelstein, S., Mitchell, W., Peteraf, M., Singh, H., Teece, D., & Winter, S. 2007. Dynamic capabilities: Understanding strategic change in organizations. London: Blackwell.

Helfat, C. E., & Peteraf, M. A. 2009. Understanding dynamic capabilities: Progress along a developmental path. Strategic Organization, 7(1): 91–102.CrossRef

Henderson, R., & Clark, K. B. 1990. Architectural innovation: The reconfiguration of existing product technologies and the failure of established firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(1): 9–30.CrossRef

Henderson, R., & Cockburn, I. 1996. Scale, scope, and spillovers: The determinants of research productivity in drug discovery. Rand Journal of Economics, 27(1): 32–59.CrossRef

Hilbe, J. M. 2011. Negative binomial regression. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRef

Huber, G. P. 1991. Organizational learning: The contributing processes and the literatures. Organization Science, 2(1): 88–115.CrossRef

Imai, K., Keele, L., & Tingley, D. 2010. A general approach to causal mediation analysis. Psychological Methods, 15(4): 309–334.CrossRef

Jaffe, A. 1986. Technological opportunity and spillovers of R&D: Evidence from firms’ patents, profits, and market value. American Economic Review, 76(5): 984–1002.

Johnson, D. K. N. 2002. ‘Learning-by-licensing’: R&D and technology licensing in Brazilian invention. Economics of Innovation & New Technology, 11(3): 163–177.CrossRef

Katila, R., & Ahuja, G. 2002. Something old, something new: A longitudinal study of search behavior and new product introduction. Academy of Management Journal, 45(6): 1183–1194.CrossRef

Katrak, H. 1990. Imports of technology and the technological effort of Indian enterprises. World Development, 18(3): 371–381.CrossRef

Kim, L., & Nelson, R. R. 2000. Technology, learning and innovation: Experiences of newly industrializing economies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kogut, B., & Zander, U. 1996. What firms do? Coordination, identity, and learning. Organization Science, 7(5): 502–518.CrossRef

Kollmer, H., & Dowling, M. 2004. Licensing as a commercialisation strategy for new technology-based firms. Research Policy, 33(8): 1141–1151.CrossRef

Lane, P. J., & Lubatkin, M. 1998. Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning. Strategic Management Journal, 19(5): 461–477.CrossRef

Laursen, K., & Salter, A. 2006. Open for innovation: The role of openness in explaining innovation performance among UK manufacturing firms. Strategic Management Journal, 27(2): 131–150.CrossRef

Leone, M. I., & Reichstein, T. 2012. Licensing fosters rapid innovation! The effect of the grant-back-clause and technological unfamiliarity. Strategic Management Journal, 33(8): 965–985.CrossRef

Li, X. 2011. Sources of external technology, absorptive capacity, and innovation capability in Chinese state-owned high-tech enterprises. World Development, 39(7): 1240–1248.CrossRef

Li, X., & Wu, G. 2010. In-house R&D, technology purchase and innovation: Empirical evidences from Chinese hi-tech industries, 1995–2004. International Journal of Technology Management, 51(2): 217–238.CrossRef

Liang, K.-Y., & Zeger, S. L. 1986. Longitudinal data analysis using generalized linear models. Biometrika, 73(1): 13–22.CrossRef

Lin, B.-W. 2003. Technology transfer as technological learning: A source of competitive advantage for firms with limited R&D resources. R&D Management, 33(3): 327–341.CrossRef

Lin, B. W., Chen, C. J., & Wu, H. L. 2006. Patent portfolio diversity, technology strategy, and firm value. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 53(1): 17–26.CrossRef

Liu, X., & White, R. S. 1997. The relative contributions of foreign technology and domestic inputs to innovation in Chinese manufacturing industries. Technovation, 17(3): 119–125.CrossRef

Li-Ying, J., & Wang, Y. 2015. Find them home or abroad? The relative contribution of international technology in-licensing to the ‘indigenous innovation’ in China. Long Range Planning, 48(3): 123–134.CrossRef

Li-Ying, J., Wang, Y., & Salomo, S. 2014. An inquiry on external technology search through patent in-licensing and firms’ technological innovations: Evidence from china. R&D Management, 44(1): 53–74.CrossRef

Li-Ying, J., Wang, Y., Salomo, S., & Vanhaverbeke, W. 2013. Have Chinese firms learnt from their prior technology in-licensing? An analysis based on patent citations. Scientometrics, 95(1): 183–195.CrossRef

MacKinnon, D. P., Lockwood, C. M., Hoffman, J. M., West, S. G., & Sheets, V. 2002. A comparison of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects. Psychological Methods, 7(1): 83.CrossRef

Matusik, S. F., & Hill, C. W. L. 1998. The utilization of contingent work, knowledge creation, and competitive advantage. Academy of Management Review, 23(4): 680–697.CrossRef

Miller, D. J. 2006. Technological diversity, related diversification, and firm performance. Strategic Management Journal, 27(7): 601–619.CrossRef

Nelson, R. R., & Winter, S. G. 1982. An evolutionary theory of economic change. Boston: Belknap.

Nooteboom, B., Vanhaverbeke, W., Duysters, G., Gilsing, V., & van den Oord, A. 2007. Optimal cognitive distance and absorptive capacity. Research Policy, 36(7): 1016–1034.CrossRef

Pakes, A., & Griliches, Z. 1980. Patents and R&D at the firm level: A first report. Economics Letters, 5(4): 377–381.CrossRef

Patel, P., & Pavitt, K. 1997. The technological competencies of the world’s largest firms: Complex and path-dependent, but not. Research Policy, 26(2): 141–156.CrossRef

Prencipe, A. 2000. Breadth and depth of technological capabilities in CoPS: The case of the aircraft engine control system. Research Policy, 29(7/8): 895–911.CrossRef

Rosenkopf, L., & Nerkar, A. 2001. Beyond local search: Boundary-spanning, exploration, and impact in the optical disk industry. Strategic Management Journal, 22(4): 287–306.CrossRef

Rucker, D. D., Preacher, K. J., Tormala, Z. L., & Petty, R. E. 2011. Mediation analysis in social psychology: Current practices and new recommendations. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5(6): 359–371.CrossRef

Schilke, O. 2014. Second-order dynamic capabilities: How do they matter?. Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(4): 368–380.CrossRef

Schmidt, J., & Keil, T. 2013. What makes a resource valuable? Identifying the drivers of firm-idiosyncratic resource value. Academy of Management Review, 38(2): 206–228.CrossRef

Sen, F., & Rubenstein, A. H. 1989. External technology and in-house R&D’s facilitative role. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 6(2): 123–138.CrossRef

Shrout, P. E., & Bolger, N. 2002. Mediation in experimental and nonexperimental studies: New procedures and recommendations. Psychological Methods, 7: 422–445.CrossRef

Silverman, B. S. 1999. Technological resources and the direction of corporate diversification: Toward an integration of the resource-based view and transaction cost economics. Management Science, 45(8): 1109–1124.CrossRef

Singh, J. 2008. Distributed R&D, cross-regional knowledge integration and quality of innovative output. Research Policy, 37(1): 77–96.CrossRef

Sirmon, D. G., & Hitt, M. A. 2009. Contingencies within dynamic managerial capabilities: Interdependent effects of resource investment and deployment on firm performance. Strategic Management Journal, 30(13): 1375–1394.CrossRef

Sobel, M. E. 1982. Asymptotic confidence intervals for indirect effects in structural equation models. Sociological methodology. Sociological Methodology, 13: 290–312.CrossRef

Stuart, T. E. 2000. Interorganizational alliances and the performance of firms: A study of growth and innovation rates in high-technology industry. Strategic Management Journal, 21(8): 791–811.CrossRef

Stuart, T. E., & Podolny, J. M. 1996. Local search and the evolution of technological capabilities. Strategic Management Journal, 17(S1): 21–38.CrossRef

Sydow, J., Schreyögg, G., & Koch, J. 2009. Organizational path dependence: Opening the black box. Academy of Management Review, 34(4): 689–709.CrossRef

Teece, D. J. 2007. Explicating dynamic capabilities: The nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance. Strategic management journal, 28(13): 1319–1350.CrossRef

Teece, D. J. 2014. The foundations of enterprise performance: Dynamic and ordinary capabilities in an (economic) theory of firms. Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(4): 328–352.CrossRef

Teece, D. J., Pisano, G., & Shuen, A. 1997. Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18(7): 509–533.CrossRef

Tsai, K.-H., Hsieh, M.-H., & Hultink, E. J. 2011. External technology acquisition and product innovativeness: The moderating roles of R&D investment and configurational context. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 28(3): 184–200.CrossRef

Tsai, K.-H., & Wang, J.-C. 2007. Inward technology licensing and firm performance: A longitudinal study. R&D Management, 37(2): 151–160.CrossRef

Wang, Y., Jin, P., & Yang, C. 2015. Relations between the professional backgrounds of independent directors in state-owned enterprises and corporate performance. International Review of Economics & Finance. doi:10.1016/j.iref.2015.10.011.

Wang, Y., & Li-Ying, J. 2014. When does inward technology licensing facilitate firms’ NPD performance? A contingency perspective. Technovation, 34(1): 44–53.CrossRef

Wang, Y., Zhou, Z., & Li-Ying, J. 2013. The impact of licensed knowledge attributes on innovation performance of licensee firms: evidence from Chinese electronic industry. Journal of Technology Transfer, 38(5): 699–715.CrossRef

West, J., & Bogers, M. 2014. Leveraging external sources of innovation: A review of research on open innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31(4): 814–831.CrossRef

Winter, S. G. 2003. Understanding dynamic capabilities. Strategic Management Journal, 24(10): 991–995.CrossRef

Zahra, S. A., & George, G. 2002. Absorptive capacity: A review, reconceptualization and extension. Academy of Management Review, 27(2): 185–203.

Zhang, J., & Baden-Fuller, C. 2010. The influence of technological knowledge base and organizational structure on technology collaboration. Journal of Management Studies, 47(4): 679–704.CrossRef

Zollo, M., & Winter, S. 2002. Deliberate learning and the evolution of dynamic capabilities. Organization Science, 13(3): 339–351.CrossRef

Title: How do dynamic capabilities transform external technologies into firms’ renewed technological resources? – A mediation model
Authors: Jason Li-Ying
Yuandi Wang
Lutao Ning
Publication date: 01-12-2016
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Asia Pacific Journal of Management / Issue 4/2016
Print ISSN: 0217-4561
Electronic ISSN: 1572-9958
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-016-9469-9

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Other articles of this Issue 4/2016

Ownership mode, cultural distance, and the extent of parent firms’ strategic control over subsidiaries in the PRC

Implementing high performance HR practices in Asia: HR practice consistency, employee roles, and performance

The changing face of China’s billionaire-entrepreneurs

Effects of sexual harassment on employees’ family undermining: Social cognitive and behavioral plasticity perspectives

Economic governance, dual networks and innovative learning in five Chinese industrial clusters

Erratum to: Group harmony in the workplace: Conception, measurement, and validation