研发联盟提前终止何以影响知识获取?

How does the Early Termination of R&D Alliances Affect Knowledge Acquisition?

企业通过组建研发联盟来获取外部知识日益普遍,而研发联盟提前终止的现象也屡见不鲜。现有关于联盟终止的研究大多数聚焦于前因分析,但却缺乏对终止后果的深入探讨,尤其是对知识获取影响的分析更为鲜见。本文基于知识基础观和资源依赖理论,以长三角地区286家高新技术企业的调查数据为样本,对研发联盟提前终止影响企业知识获取的作用机制进行探讨。结果表明:研发联盟提前终止后企业的知识获取有所增加,主要是因为研发联盟提前终止激发了企业的替代性搜索行为,企业通过开展本地搜索和跨界搜索加强了对外部资源的利用程度,进而获得了大量的异质性知识;同时研究还发现,联盟惯例越强,跨界搜索对知识获取的影响越明显,但是联盟惯例的强弱并不影响本地搜索与知识获取间的关系。本文在一定程度上拓展了研发联盟终止后果的研究,对指导企业在联盟合作过程中提前预见终止可能性,进而采取合适的知识搜寻策略具有重要的现实意义。

This paper pays attention to the performance of knowledge acquisition after the premature termination of R&D alliances,and examines how the termination event affects firms’knowledge search channel.Based on the knowledge-based view and the resource dependence theory,this paper conducts an analysis of the differences in the knowledge search activities and resource dependency conditions of firms before and after alliance termination.We argue that firms can perceive the possibility of alliance termination according to the changes in alliance activities and thus shift their knowledge search mindset.In addition,the social relationships and behavioral habits of firms do not change rapidly with alliance termination and will still play a role in the subsequent knowledge search process.We thus incorporate knowledge search and alliance routines into the same research framework,which constitutes the theoretical framework of“early termination of R&D alliances–alternative search behavior–knowledge acquisition”.We use a questionnaire survey to collect data,and eventually obtain 286 valid data from firms belonging to high-tech industries in the Yangtze River Delta region of China.The empirical test results are as follows:First,the knowledge acquisition of firms increases after the early termination of R&D alliances.Second,the early termination of R&D alliances stimulates alternative search behaviors of firms,which enhances the utilization intensity of external resources by conducting local and crossborder searches,and thus acquires a large amount of heterogeneous knowledge.Third,the stronger the alliance routines,the more obvious the impact of cross-border search on knowledge acquisition;while the strength of alliance routines does not affect the relationship between local search and knowledge acquisition.Management insights are as follows:When R&D alliances deteriorate,it is more beneficial for firms to terminate them to gain more knowledge;firms should attach importance to each alliance experience,actively establish relationship ties,timely summarize and reflect on cooperation experience,and constantly establish and improve alliance routines;firms should be highly sensitive to the internal and external environment and grasp the possibility of the dissolution of alliances,so that they can timely carry out alternative search behavior and take the initiative of knowledge acquisition.The contributions include that:The knowledge acquisition consequences of the early termination of R&D alliances are investigated,which extends the alliance theory system;local search and cross-border search are found to play a bridging role in the knowledge acquisition process after the early termination of the alliance,which expands the application scenario of the knowledge search theory;alliance routines that originate from the alliance are not parasitic on the alliance structure,rather,they can be absorbed and used by firms to internalize into their own behavioral norms and continue to guide their behavior even after the early termination of the alliance.