对外搜寻战略与企业新产品绩效的关系研究--企业家导向和竞争的联合调节作用

A research on the impact of external search strategy on new product performance of firms--The joint mediation effect of entrepreneurial orientation and competition

研究分析了对外搜寻战略对企业新产品绩效的影响,检验了企业内部因素企业家导向和外部因素竞争程度对对外搜寻战略的调节作用以及其联合调节作用。运用318家企业的调研数据进行了模型验证,利用AMOS和SPSS软件分析后,结果表明,深度搜寻战略和宽度搜寻战略均有利于企业新产品绩效提升;企业家导向和竞争程度对搜寻战略与新产品绩效的关系存在联合调节作用。当竞争程度低时,企业应选择深度搜寻战略更利于新产品绩效,若企业希望在竞争程度高的环境中选择深度搜寻战略,企业需提高其企业家导向程度;另一方面,当竞争程度和企业家导向程度均处于较高水平时,企业选择宽度搜寻战略会获得较好的新产品绩效。

This paper examines the contingent relationship between external search and new product development,and also examines the three-way-interaction effect of entrepreneurial orientation,competition,and external search on new product development.As the basis for firms to maintain competitive advantages,new product development acquires abundant resources.However,the existing knowledge base of the firms is often difficult to meet the needs of new product development.Therefore,more and more firms seek for partners from a broader range to obtain knowledge and other resources outside the firm boundary.The knowledge and resources from the outside can help the firms break through the bottleneck of new product development.Thus,research about external search has begun to be the focus of scholars and practitioners.Most studies are focusing on the following two questions.The first question is whether external search can effectively improve firm performance and new product development.Most research on this question deduces the direct relationship between external search and new product development,and the existing research conclusions are as follows.On the one hand,some scholars assert the external search is beneficial to the new product development.On the other hand,some scholars consider the relationship between external search and the new product development is in an inverted-U shape.The second question is whether there are some factors that can effectively influence the relationship between external search and new product development.Few existing studies focus on this question,and most of the current studies analyze this question from the perspective of absorptive capacity and social network theory.The relationship between external search and new product development is still not clear,and research about the influences of the contingent factors on the above link is deficient.Some scholars suggest that future research dealing with the relationship between external search and the new product development should concentrate on the influences of internal and external factors.Entrepreneurial orientation undoubtedly changes the search behaviors and the results of the external search by influencing the decision-making styles and behavior modes.Moreover,external competition has a powerful effect on firm strategic formulation and internal innovation.Therefore,this paper introduces the internal entrepreneurial orientation and external competition into the relationship between external search and the new product development.In addition,may the internal and external factors have joint moderation effects on the relationship between external search and new product development?Applying resources with suitable internal and external factors may have the best influence on new product development.As a result,this paper,referring to the configuration research methods from Wiklund and Shepherd,introduces the combination of competition,entrepreneurial orientation,and external search to figure out which combination has the most conducive effect on new product development.All kinds of search activities involve the search scope and the search degree.This paper regards external search as search depth and search width.Based on the survey data of 636 senior managers from 318 manufacturing and high-tech firms in China,this paper makes an empirical analysis of the above research questions.Analyzing the data from 318 Chinese firms by AMOS and SPSS,the findings indicate that both search depth and search width are conducive to improving the new product development.Entrepreneurial orientation can strengthen the beneficial effect of search width on new product development.The degree of competition significantly moderates the relationship between external search and new product development.This study also finds that entrepreneurial orientation,competition,and external search have a configuration effect on new product development,which means entrepreneurial orientation and competition have a joint moderation effect on the relationship between external search and new product development.Specifically,when the degree of competition is low,the search depth is more conducive to the new product development.If the firm hopes to apply search depth in a highly competitive environment,the firm needs to maintain a high level of entrepreneurial orientation.On the other hand,when the levels of entrepreneurial orientation and competition are both high,the search width has a better influence on the new product development.This study has the following two theoretical contributions:on the one hand,this paper answers the question of how external search affects new product development.Based on the research survey data of Chinese manufacturing and high-tech firms,the research results confirm the beneficial effects of search depth and search width on new product development.The results reconcile the debate about the influences of external search on the firm.Although some of the studies assert that excessive search is harmful to the firms by wasting the resources and enhancing the costs,Chinese large and medium-sized industrial firms R&D intensity is only 1%,which is at a low level.It shows that Chinese firms need a large amount of knowledge to create new products.On the other hand,this study puts internal and external factors into one framework to explore their effects on the relationship between external search and new product development.The results answer the question of if the relationship between external search and new product development is influenced by other factors,and also the question of if it is possible that internal and external factors have joint effects on the relationship between external search and new product development.The results enrich the existing theoretical content of open innovation.Although external search may help the firm obtain knowledge,the role of the external search may change with mismatched characteristics in and out of the firm.By introducing entrepreneurial orientation and competition into the research,this paper finds the influences of external search on the new product development is highly depends on the internal and external factors of the firm.This study also has some practical implications.With the increasingly fierce global economic competition,firms need to be active in communicating with the outside world.The research results show that external search is conducive to the Chinese new product development,which confirms the positive role of breaking the firm boundary.The results further confirm the prominent role of entrepreneur orientation in new product development.