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ResearchPolicy40 (2011) 391–402

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ResearchPolicy

journalhomepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/respol

Analysisofsourcesofinnovation,technologicalinnovationcapabilities,andperformance:AnempiricalstudyofHongKongmanufacturingindustries

RichardC.M.Yam∗,WilliamLo,EstherP.Y.Tang,AntonioK.W.Lau

TheDepartmentofManufacturingEngineeringandEngineeringManagement,CityUniversityofHongKong,HongKong

articleinfoabstract

Theconceptoftheregionalinnovationsystem(RIS)hasbeendevelopedintoanimportantframeworkforevaluatinginnovationperformance.ThestudyreportedinthispaperexplorestherelationshipbetweentheRISandtheﬁrm’sinnovationsystem(FIS)accordingtothebasicpremisethatﬁrmsthatbetterutilizesourcesofinformation(SI)availablewithintheirregionalinnovationsystem(RIS)performbetterdueeffectthishasinenhancingtheﬁrm’stechnologicalinnovationcapabilities(TICs).Thedifferentinnovationcapabilitiesofaﬁrmareregardedasthekeycomponentsoftheﬁrm’sinnovationsystem.ThesourcesofinformationavailablewithinanRISincludeexternalsources(EXT)andexternalexpertorganizations,thelatterofwhicharereferredtoasknowledge-intensivebusinessservices(KIBS).ThisstudyalsoexploresthedualroleofKIBSasbothsourcesofandbridgesforinnovationintheRIS.Datawereobtainedthroughamailedsurveyusingaself-administeredquestionnaire.TheutilizationconceptandthedualroleofKIBSwereveriﬁed.Theresultsshowthatexternallyavailableinformationaffectsallinnovationcapabilitiesoftheﬁrm,whileexternalexpertorganizationsaffectonlytheﬁrm’sR&Dandresourcesallocationcapabilities.ThisstudycontributestotheRISliteraturebyprovidingempiricalevidenceonhowﬁrmscaninteractwiththeRISbyutilizingSItoenhancetheirTICsandachieveglobalcompetitiveness.

Articlehistory:

Received27October2009

Receivedinrevisedform27August2010Accepted15October2010

Available online 24 November 2010Keywords:

RegionalinnovationsystemFirminnovationsystem

Utilizationofinnovationsources

Knowledge-intensivebusinessservicesTechnologicalinnovationcapabilities

1.Introduction

1.1.Thenationalinnovationsystem(NIS)

TheOECD(NationalInnovationSystems,OECD,1997)deﬁnesanationalinnovationsystemastheﬂowsoftechnologyandinfor-mationamongpeople,enterprises,andinstitutionsthatarethekeytotheinnovationprocessatthenationallevel.Manyinﬂuen-tialstudieshavebeencarriedoutinthisareainrecentdecades,includingthoseofFreeman(1987),Porter(1990),Lundvall(1992),Nelsonetal.(1993),OECD(1997),Edquistetal.(1997),andCarlssonetal.(2002).Theseinvestigationshavedescribedthelinkbetweeninnovationandcompetitiveandeconomicoutcomesatthenationallevel(Porter,1990;Nelsonetal.,1993)andtheirresultshavebeenwidelyadoptedinthenationalscience&technologypolicyresearchdomain.Moreover,theyhavecollectivelyformulatedananalyti-calframeworkforNISandprovidedaresearchbackgroundforthestudyofregionalinnovationsystems(RISs)andﬁrminnovationsystems(FISs).

1.2.Theregionalinnovationsystem

Braczyketal.(1996)ﬁrstdelineatedtheconceptoftheRIS.Withinashorttime,variousresearcherscametoapplytheNISconceptinstudyingRIS(Braczyketal.,1996;Cookeetal.,1997;MorganandNauwelaers,1999;Koschatzkyetal.,2000;Cooke,2001;Doloreux,2002).StudiesadoptingtheRISapproachexamineinnovatingﬁrmsinthecontextoftheexternalinstitutions,gov-ernmentpolicies,competitors,suppliers,customers,valuesystem,andsocialandculturalpracticesthataffecttheirinnovationactivi-ties(KumaresanandMiyazaki,1999;OECD,1999).ThefocusisonthegenerationanddiffusionofknowledgeamongRISactorsthattakesplaceoutsidetheboundaryoftheﬁrm.However,moststudiesintheextantliteraturehaveconcentratedontheoreticaldiscus-sionsonthecompositionofinnovationactors.Acsetal.(2002)insistedthattheproblemofmeasuringinnovationeffectivenessattheregionallevelhadnotyetbeencompletelyresolved.NoactivediscussionhasyettakenplaceonhowaﬁrmcaninteractwiththeRIStoenhanceitscapacitytoinnovateandachieveglobalcompetitiveness.

1.3.Theﬁrminnovationsystem

Theﬁrminnovationsystemcanbedeﬁnedasaninteractiveprocessthatinvolvesthegeneration,adoption,implementation,

∗Correspondingauthorat:CityUniversityofHongKong,TaiCheeAvenue,KowloonTong,HongKong.Tel.:+85227888417;fax:+85227888423..

E-mailaddresses:mery@cityu.edu.hk(R.C.M.Yam),lowailam@hkpc.org(W.Lo),msesther@polyu.edu.hk(E.P.Y.Tang),antoniolau2000@hotmail.com(A.K.W.Lau).0048-7333/$–seefrontmatter© 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.respol.2010.10.013

392R.C.M.Yametal./ResearchPolicy40 (2011) 391–402

andincorporationofnewideasandpracticeswithintheﬁrm(VandeVenetal.,1989;Carlssonetal.,2002).Themainfeatureofthissystemistheabilityoftheactorstogenerate,diffuse,andutilizeinnovationsthathaveeconomicvalue,collectivelyknownastheﬁrm’stechnologicalinnovationcapabilities(TICs).Innova-tionactivitywithinaﬁrmisaninteractiveprocesscharacterizedbytechnologicalinterrelatednessbetweenvarioussub-systemsorsub-processes(Teece,1996).Thesesub-processesincludethoseofconceptgeneration,productdevelopment,production,technologyacquisition,leadership,resourceprovision,andsystemandtoolprovision().TICscanbeenhancedbydevelopingtheﬁrm’sabil-ityineachsub-process.VariousstudieshavesoughttoidentifytheTICcomponentsthatareimportanttoﬁrms(AdlerandShenbar,1990;Christensen,1995;Yametal.,2004).ItisrecognizedthataﬁrmwithgreaterTICsisabletoachievehigherlevelsoforganiza-tionalperformanceandeffectiveness.Hence,theTICsofaﬁrmarecrucialinsustainingitsglobalcompetitiveness.However,thereislittleempiricalevidenceonhowﬁrmsharnessthebeneﬁtsoftheRIStoimprovetheirtechnologicalinnovationcapabilities(RomijnandAlbaladejo,2002).

2.Thelinkbetweenregionalinnovationsystemsandﬁrminnovationsystems

Inrecentyears,someresearchershavestartedtoinvestigatethepossibilityofintegratingtheRISandFISapproaches.GalendeandFuente(2003)proposedtheideaofconsideringbothexternalandinternalfactorsinstudyingtheinnovationprocess.RomijnandAlbaladejo(2002)identiﬁedarangeofinternalandexternalfactorsrelatedtoinnovationperformanceamongelectronicsandsoftwaredevelopmentﬁrmsintheUK.Caloghirouetal.(2004)showedthatbothﬁrminnovationcapabilitiesandopennesstowardsknowledgesharingareimportantinbolsteringinnovationperformance.ThisstreamoftheinnovationliteraturedemonstratesagrowinginterestinintegratingtheRISandFISapproaches.2.1.Organizationallearning

Technologicalinnovationcanbeconceptualizedasalearningprocess(CohenandLevinthal,1989;Garvin,1993;Dodgson,1993;Hittetal.,2000).Learningresultsinenhancementoftheknowl-edgeandskillsﬁrmsneedtochoose,install,operate,maintain,adapt,improve,anddeveloptheirtechnology(HamelandPrahalad,1990),i.e.theTICsofaﬁrm.Inaworldofincreasingcompetitionandtechnologicalchange,thegenerationanddiffusionofinnova-tionsincreasinglyrelyonnewtechnologicalknowledgegeneratednotonlythroughinternalR&Ddepartments,butalsobytheﬁrm’sinteractionwithexternalsourcesofinnovation(SI),particularlyintheregioninwhichtheﬁrmoperates(RomijnandAlbaladejo,2002;Caloghirouetal.,2004).Hence,acriticalcomponentofsuccessfultechnologicalinnovationistheabilityofaﬁrmtoexploitandutilizeexternalknowledgeintheRIS(Linetal.,2002).

Ontheotherhand,organizationallearningtheorysuggeststhataﬁrm’sinnovationperformanceisanoutcomeofincreasesinitsknowledgebase(HendersonandCockburn,1996a,b).Inadditiontothecontributionmadebyknowledge-enhancinginvestmentsovertime,ﬁrmscangrowtheirknowledgebyacquiringexter-nalknowledgebases(CohenandLevinthal,1989;Huber,1991).Althoughtherelationshipbetweenﬁrms’investmentsinknowl-edgeandtheirtechnologicalinnovationperformancehasbeenstudiedintensively(Griliches,1990),relativelyfewstudieshavefocusedontheroleofacquisitionsingrowingtheﬁrm’sknowledgebase(Huber,1991).Thisindicatesthattherelationshipbetweenobtainingtechnologicalknow-howanddevelopingtechnologicalinnovationcapabilitiesisbecominganimportantareaofstudyin

thetechnologicalinnovationarena.ManystudieshaveconsideredtheimpactofexternalknowledgebasesorSIonthetechnologicalinnovationperformanceofaﬁrm(Uzun,2001;TodtlingandTrippl,2005).However,fewpriorinvestigationshavefoundthattheﬁrm’sTICsareenhancedbyutilizingSIswithintheRIS(i.e.theutilizationconcept).

2.2.Knowledge-intensivebusinessservices(KIBS)

Inadditiontohighlightingthekeyroleplayedintechnolog-icaldevelopmentbyfosteringtheﬁrm’sTICs,researchershavealsopinpointedtheimportanceofeffectiveintermediariesbetweenﬁrmsandknowledgeproviders(DodgsonandBessant,1996).Whenthereisawidegapbetweensuppliersandusersoftech-nology,intermediaryagencieshelptofacilitatetheabsorptionofknowledge.Thisisparticularlytrueforsmallandmedium-sizedenterprises(SMEs)(RothwellandDodgson,1991).Muller(2001)deﬁnedintermediaryagenciesasKIBS,ororganizationssuchasconsultancyﬁrms,researchinstitutes,anduniversitiesthatprovideservicesaddingahighlevelofintellectualvaluetootherﬁrms.KIBSnotonlyhaveadirectimpactontheinnovationactivitiesofSMEs,butalsohaveanindirectinﬂuenceonsuchactivitiesbypavingthewayfortheabsorptionofknowledgefromothersourcesofinnova-tion(MullerandZenker,2001).TheroleofKIBSthereforeappearstobetwofoldinthattheyactasbotha“sourceofinnovation”anda“bridgeforinnovation”.ThestudyreportedinthispaperexploredthisdualroleofKIBSinintegratingtheRISandtheFIS.3.TheregionalinnovationsystemintheHongKong/PearlRiverDeltaRegion3.1.TheRISinHongKong

Inthe1960s–1970s,HongKong’swidermanufacturingindustrysuccessfullydevelopedareputationasalow-cost,labor-intensiveoriginalequipmentmanufacturing(OEM)centerbyproducinggoodsforexporttoWesterncountries.TheHongKonggovern-mentadopteda“positivenon-intervention”policyintheareasoftechnologicaldevelopmentbyprovidingfundingforinfrastruc-turedevelopmentinsteadofdirectlysubsidizingsub-industrieswithminimalinstitutionalsupport.Thetechnologicalandmarket-ingsupportgiventotheindustrywasverylimited.TechnologicaladvancesinHongKongtrailedthosemadeinthethreeother“littleAsiandragons”:SouthKorea,Singapore,andTaiwan.

Ever-increasingwagesandlandpricesinthelate1970sseri-ouslythreatenedtheOEMmanufacturingstrategyadoptedbymostmanufacturingﬁrmsinHongKong.WiththeintroductionoftheopendoorpolicyinChinaataboutthesametime,HongKong’slabor-intensiveindustriesweresubstantiallyrelocatedtothePearlRiverDelta(PRD)intheprovinceofGuangdong,adjacenttoHongKong.ThisrelocationhelpedHongKongmanufacturerstodevelopahighlycompetitivelow-costmanufacturingbaseinthePRDduetothevastsupplyofcheaplaborandthelowcostoflandinChina.However,thistransitionalsodelayedtechnologicalinnovationinHongKong(Loetal.,2001).

BritainhandedthesovereigntyofHongKongovertoChinain1997.TheHongKongSpecialAdministrationRegion(HKSAR)gov-ernmentrevisiteditstechnologypoliciesandtookanumberofmeasurestofacilitatetechnologytransferandfosteracultureofinnovationinthecommunity.Forexample,theInnovationandTechnologyFund(ITF)wassetuptoﬁnanceinnovationandtech-nologyprogramsrelevanttoindustry,andtheAppliedResearchFund(ARF),agovernment-ownedventurecapitalfund,wassetuptosupportlocaltechnologyventureswithcommercialpoten-tial.TheestablishmentoftheHongKongScienceandTechnology

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ParksCorporation(HKSTPC)offeredone-stopsupportservicesfortechnology-basedcompaniesandactivities.Othercommis-sionsandinstituteswerealsoformedtoencourageinvestmentintechnology.Mostofthesemeasureswereprincipallydesignedwiththemanufacturingsectorinmind.Manufacturingﬁrmswereencouragedtoapplyfortheabovementionedformsofsupportinconjunctionwiththeirownindustrialassociations,universities,orconsultingﬁrms.3.2.TheRISinthePRD

DuetothestrongpresenceofHongKongmanufacturersinthePRD,theirsuccessinlow-costmanufacturingandtheirreluctancetopursuetechnologicaladvancesaffectedtechnologicaldevelop-mentinthisregionofChina.Inaddition,thescarcityofnaturalresourcesinthePRDlimiteditsabilitytocontributetothedevel-opmentofheavyindustry,thefocalpointofChina’sﬁve-yearplansinthe1950s,1960s,and1970s.Hence,thePRDbecameatechnol-ogylaggardincomparisonwithotherpartsofChina.Thissituationhadnotchangedsigniﬁcantlyuntilrecently.China’sreformpro-graminitiatedin1979facilitatedaverysuccessfullow-costHK/PRDmanufacturingcollaborationthatsubstantiallyimprovedeconomicgrowthinthePRDbuthindereditstechnologicaldevelopment.AlthoughChinahasstartedtore-establishitsnationalinnovationsystemsincethe1990s(Zhou,2005),thescopeofthemeasurestakeninthisregardonlyrecentlyincludedtechnologicaldevel-opmentofthePRD.GiventheisolationofthePRDfromChina’sindustrialandtechnologicalheartland,thesupportitreceivedfromthecentralgovernmentwasminimal.Asaresult,theinnovationsystemofthePRDwasveryimmatureduringtheperiodcov-eredbythisstudy.MostHKmanufacturersstillreliedontheHKinnovationsystemratherthanthePRDRISfortechnologicaldevel-opment.

4.Researchmodel

InexploringtherelationshipbetweentheRIS/FIS,thisstudyfocusedontwocomponentsoftheRISonly—externalsourcesofinnovation(EXT)andKIBS—tosupplementtheknowledgegapintheextantliterature.BecausemostmanufacturersintheHongKong/PRDregionfunctioninalargelyhomogenouscontextoftech-nologicallagsandinstitutionalsupport,factorsinﬂuencingtheindustrialstructureandtheinstitutionalenvironmentwerenotspeciﬁcallyanalyzed.

4.1.Technologicalinnovationcapabilities

TICsaredeﬁnedasacomprehensivesetofﬁrmcharacteris-ticsthatfacilitateandsupporttheﬁrm’stechnologicalinnovationstrategies(Burgelmanetal.,2004).Variousresearchershavedevel-opedtheirownapproachestoassessingaﬁrm’sTICs,suchastheassetapproach(Christensen,1995),theprocessapproach(Chiesaetal.,1996;Burgelmanetal.,2004),andthefunctionalapproach(Yametal.,2004).TheseapproachesandtheelementsexaminedinassessingtheTICsofaﬁrmaresummarizedinTable1.

Amongtheseapproaches,theassetandprocessapproachesaresomewhatmoredifﬁculttocomprehendthanthefunctionalapproach.Thelatterapproachnotonlyhastheadvantageofbeingeasiertounderstand,butalsofacilitatesadoptionofthemulti-informantsapproachemployedinthesurveyconductedforthisstudy.IthasalsobeenusedtoassesstheTICsofChinesecompanies(Yametal.,2004),enterprisesthathaveaculturesimilartothatofHongKongmanufacturers.Hence,thefunctionalapproachwasadoptedinthisstudyasitseemedtobemoresuitableforHong

Kongmanufacturers.

4.2.Utilizationofsourcesofinnovationandtechnologicalinnovationcapabilities

Studiesoftechnologicalinnovationhavetraditionallyfocusedonﬁrm-speciﬁcdeterminantssuchasR&Dactivitiesandﬁrmsize.Recentstudieshavetendedtoincorporatedeterminantsexternaltoﬁrms,especiallywithrespecttoexternalsourcesofinnovationﬁrmsusetodeveloporimprovetheirproductsorprocesses.Thesourceofinnovationisimportantbecauseitdeterminesthecapa-bilitiesaﬁrmmustpossesstoadoptthenecessaryinnovationsintimetoachievesuccessinthemarketplace.Theycommentedthatinnovationsarenotonlydeterminedbyfactorsinternaltoﬁrms,butalsobyaninteractiveprocessinvolvingrelationshipsbetweenﬁrmsanddifferentactorsintheRIS.Firmscannotinno-vateinisolation;theytendtocomplementtheirabilitytocreateknowledgein-housebyutilizingknowledgefromexternalsourcesofinnovation.Thiscanbeachievedbylearningbyusing,learningbydoing,andlearningbysharingthroughformalorinformalnet-workswithintheRIS(LengrandandChatrie,1999;Foray,2000).Interactionwithexternalsourcesofinnovationcanprovidemiss-ingexternalinputsintothelearningprocessthattheﬁrmcannotprovideitself(RomijnandAlbaladejo,2002)andimproveﬁrmper-formance(Caloghirouetal.,2004).Hence,technologicalinnovationcanbeconceptualizedasalearningandutilizationprocess(CohenandLevinthal,1989;Dodgson,1993;Garvin,1993;Hittetal.,2000).Firmscanreinforcetheirtechnologicalinnovationcapabilitybyimportingtechnologiesandthendiffusing,assimilating,commu-nicating,andabsorbingthemintotheirorganizations(HamelandPrahalad,1990).Teeceetal.(1997)alsoascertainedthattheabil-ityofaﬁrmtoacquire,utilize,anddevelopvaluableresourcesandcapabilitiesislargelyrelatedtoitsacquisitionofknowledgeexter-naltotheﬁrmanditsintegrationofsuchknowledgewiththeﬁrm’sown.

Proponentsofthesystemsofinnovationapproacharguethatinnovationshouldbeseenasanevolutionary,non-linear,andinter-activeprocessrequiringintensiveinteractionwithdifferentactorsintheRISsuchassuppliers,customers,andevencompetitors,aswellaswithotherorganizations(TodtlingandTrippl,2005)suchasuniversities,researchcenters,educationalinstitutions,ﬁnanc-inginstitutions,standard-settingbodies,andindustryassociations.Thegenerationandutilizationofknowledgedependonthefre-quencyanddensityoftheﬁrm’sinteractionswithexternalsourcesofinnovationanditsopennesstoexternalknowledge(Caloghirouetal.,2004).

4.2.1.Sourcesofinnovation—externalinformation(EXT)

Souitaris(2001)distinguishedeffortsﬁrmsmaketoestablishknowledgeﬂowchannelsandlinkagesintotwocategories:(1)thoseinvolvingthescanningofexternalinformation;and(2)thoseinvolvingcooperationwithexternalorganizations.SIisincludedintheﬁrstknowledgeacquisitioncategoryandincludestechni-calreports,theuseofpatentdatabases,attendanceatconferences,andscientiﬁcpublications.Patentsareconsideredausefulsourceofknowledgeonthetechnicalcharacteristicsofprotectedinven-tions.Theuseofpatentdatabasesmayprovidevaluableknowledgeonpotentiallyproﬁtableresearchareasoronhowtoinventaroundapatent(Arundel,2001).Journalsprovideareamoreconven-tionalmeansofacquiringcodiﬁedknowledge.Theuseofpatentsandjournalsreﬂectsaninterlaybetweenbasic/appliedscientiﬁcresearchandtechnologicaldevelopmentinthecontextofcorpo-rateR&Defforts.Thesameistrueofconferences:Caloghirouetal.(2004)classiﬁedthemasthe“externalsourceofknowledge”.Hisstudyprovedthatscanningexternalknowledgeviascientiﬁcorbusinessjournalsisbeneﬁcialtotheﬁrmandthatﬁrmsregularly

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Table1

DifferentapproachandelementsinassessingTICs.ProposedbyChristensen(1995)

R.C.M.Yametal./ResearchPolicy40 (2011) 391–402

StudyapproachAssetapproach

TICelements

•Scienceresearchasset•Productinnovationasset•Estheticsdesignasset

•Capabilitiesofaﬁrmin

•Resourcesavailabilityandallocation

•Understandingcompetitorinnovativestrategyandmarket•Understandingtechnologicaldevelopmentsrelevanttoﬁrm•Structuralandculturalaffectinginternalinnovativeactivities

•Strategicmanagementcapabilitytodealwithinternalinnovativeactivities•Conceptgenerationcapability•Processinnovationcapability•Productdevelopmentcapability•Technologyacquisitioncapability•Leadershipcapability

•Resourcesdeploymentcapability

•Capabilityineffectiveuseofsystemandtools•Learningcapability•R&Dcapability

•Resourcesallocationcapability•Manufacturingcapability•Marketingcapability•Organizationcapability

•Strategicplanningcapability

Burgelmanetal.(2004)Processapproach

Chiesaetal.(1996)Processapproach

Yametal.(2004)Functionalapproach

usethismethodtoﬁndnewideasforinnovation.Thus,wepro-posedthatEXTprovidemarketknowledgeintheformofpatents,journals,equipment,etc.,andformulatedtheﬁrstsetofhypothe-sesasfollows.H1a:EXThasapositiverelationshipwithlearningcapability.H1b:EXThasapositiverelationshipwithR&Dcapabil-ity.H1c:EXThasapositiverelationshipwithresourceallocationcapability.H1d:EXThasapositiverelationshipwithmanufactur-ingcapability.H1e:EXThasapositiverelationshipwithmarketingcapability.H1f:EXThasapositiverelationshipwithorganizationalcapability.H1g:EXThasapositiverelationshipwithstrategicplan-ningcapability.

4.2.2.Sourcesofinnovation—externalorganizations(KIBS)

Thesecondcategoryofsourcesofinnovationiscooperationwithexternalorganizations(KIBS).Theexternalknowledgetowhichﬁrmsmayseektogainaccessinthecourseoftheirtechnologysourcingactivitiesmaybecategorizedbytypeofinstitutionintoknowledgefromresearchinstitutions,knowledgefromuniversi-ties,andknowledgefromconsultancyﬁrms(i.e.KIBS).Thereisclearempiricalevidencethatexternalknowledgefromresearchinstitu-tionsplaysaparticularlyimportantroleinsomeindustries.Thus,thesecondsetofhypotheseswasstatedasfollows.H2a:KIBShaveapositiverelationshipwithlearningcapability.H2b:KIBShaveapositiverelationshipwithR&Dcapability.H2c:KIBShaveapositiverelationshipwithresourceallocationcapability.H2d:KIBShaveapositiverelationshipwithmanufacturingcapability.H2e:KIBShaveapositiverelationshipwithmarketingcapability.H2f:KIBShaveapositiverelationshipwithorganizationalcapability.H2g:KIBShaveapositiverelationshipwithstrategicplanningcapability.

Duetothecomplexityandvariabilityoftechnologiesandmar-kets,individualﬁrms,especiallySMEs,ﬁnditmostbeneﬁcialtoinnovateincooperationwithotherﬁrmsorinstitutionsinamannerthatenablesallpartnerstousetheirowncompetenciestotheopti-malextentandtocombinethemwiththespeciﬁccompetenciesoftheirpartners.Becausetheknowledgeinvolvedininnovationactiv-itiescanbetacitorcodiﬁedandcanbegeneratedwithintheﬁrmoracquiredfromexternalorganizations,innovationcanbeunder-stoodasacycleinvolvinginteractionsbetweentacitandcodiﬁedknowledge.

KIBSplayaspeciﬁcroleininnovationbyfacilitatingtheuti-lizationofknowledgegainedfromSIs.KIBSplayatwofoldroleininnovationsystems(CzarnitzkiandSpielkamp,2000;MullerandZenker,2001).NotonlydotheyhaveadirectimpactoninnovationactivitiesamongmanufacturingSMEs,buttheyalsohaveanindi-rectinﬂuenceby“pavingtheway”fortheabsorptionofknowledgefromothersourcesofinnovation.KIBSarepotentialco-innovatorsforSMEsandcanbeconsidered“bridgesforinnovation”giventheirfunctionsofpurchasingknowledge,equipment,andinvest-mentgoodsfromthemanufacturingindustry,providingservicesorknowledgeforcompaniesinthemanufacturingindustry/servicesector,anddeliveringknowledgeorservicesthatarecomplimen-tarytothemanufacturingindustry’sproductsortootherservices(MullerandZenker,2001).Hence,itwasproposedthatKIBShelptoimprovetheutilizationofSItoenhancetechnologicalinnova-tionbyplayingadualroleasbridgesforandsourcesofinnovation.Thethirdhypothesispredictedasfollows.H3:KIBShaveapositiverelationshipwithEXT.

4.3.RelationshipbetweenTICsandtechnologyinnovationperformance(TIP)

Aﬁrm’scompetitiveadvantagecouldcomefromtheefﬁ-ciencyandcapabilitiesderivedfromnewproductdevelopments(LawlessandFisher,1990;Guan,2002).Anincreaseinprod-uctinnovationisattributabletotheaccumulationofcapabilitiesandcontributestoinnovationoutputs.Inmostcircumstances,high-performanceﬁrmshavestrongercapabilitiesthanlow-performanceﬁrms.ImprovingTICscanbebeneﬁcialtotheﬁrmandleadtoenhancedcompetitiveness(Yametal.,2004).Evangelistaetal.(1997)regardedR&Dactivitiesasacentralcomponentofﬁrms’technologicalinnovationactivitiesandasthemostimportantintangibleformofinnovationexpenditure.Aﬁrm’sheterogeneousresourceportfolios(includingitshuman,capital,andtechnol-ogyresources)areresponsibleforthevariabilityobservedinitsﬁnancialreturns.Thesearetheﬁrm’sspeciﬁccompetenciesthatcontributesubstantiallytoitssalesgrowthandcompetitiveadvan-tage.Thereisacausalconnectionbetweenaﬁrm’sresourcesanditstechnologicalinnovationperformance.TheOLSOManual(1997)proposedthatTIPcanbemeasuredbytheproportionofsales

R.C.M.Yametal./ResearchPolicy40 (2011) 391–402395

Regional PerspectiveTechnologicalInnovation Capabilities(TICs)LearningCapabilityFirm PerspectiveSources of Innovation (SI)ExternalSource (EXT)H1a-gR & DCapabilityResource AllocationCapabilityTechnologicalInnovation Performances(TIPs)H4a-gSalesPerformanceH3H2a-gKIBSManufacturingCapabilityMarketingCapabilityOrganizationCapabilityStrategic PlanningCapabilityFig.1.Proposedresearchmodel.

duetotechnologicallyneworimprovedproducts,i.e.salesper-formance.Thisindicatorhasalsobeenwidelyadoptedinrecentinnovationstudies(Evangelistaetal.,2001;Yametal.,2004).Thus,thefourthsetofhypothesesmadethefollowingpredic-tions.H4a:Learningcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsalesperformance.H4b:R&Dcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsalesperformance.H4c:Resourceallocationcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsalesperformance.H4d:Manufacturingcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsalesperformance.H4e:Marketingcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsalesperfor-mance.H4f:Organizationalcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsalesperformance.H4g:Strategicplanningcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsalesperformance.

TheoverallresearchmodelisdepictedinFig.1.5.Researchmethodology5.1.Measures

5.1.1.Sourcesofinnovation

TheOSLOmanual(OECD,1997)proposedalistofSIsthathasbeenwidelyadoptedbyresearchersinRISstudiesoverthepastdecadeormore.Inthisstudy,afterconsideringthecircumstancesoftheHKmanufacturingindustryandfeedbackgatheredinapilotstudy,relevantitemswereemployedtomeasuretheutilizationofSIs(EXTandKIBS).Respondentswereaskedtogivetheirviewsonthedegreetowhichtheseitemswereutilized.Withreferencetosimilarpreviousstudies(Yametal.,2004),a7-pointLikertscalewasusedforallapplicableitemstoensureahigherdegreeofstatisticalvariabilityamongthesurveyresponses.Ahigherscoredenotedahigherdegreeofutilizationofthetypeofinnovationsourcecon-cerned.

5.1.2.Technologicalinnovationcapabilities

AreviewofthepriorTICliterature(Christensen,1995;Chiesaetal.,1996;Yametal.,2004)suggestedthatthescalesemployedbyYametal.(2004)shouldbeusedinthisstudy.Asnotedearlier,thefunctionalapproachusedinthesepriorstudieshastheadvan-tageofbeingeasytounderstand.Apilotstudyconductedtoverify

thescalesexaminedsevenTICs:learningcapability,R&Dcapability,resourceallocationcapability,manufacturingcapability,marketingcapability,organizationalcapability,andstrategicplanningcapa-bility.ThedeﬁnitionofeachcapabilityisgiveninAppendixA.IncommonwiththeSImeasure,a7-pointLikertscalewasusedforallapplicableitems.Ahigherscoredenotedgreaterstrengthinthecapabilityconcerned.

5.1.3.Technologicalinnovationperformance

Theperformanceofanyinnovationisalwaysbestmeasuredinﬁnancialterms.Financialindicesshowwhethertheinnovationhashadanimpactonthemarketorhasbeenﬁnanciallysuccess-fully.Salesperformancewasmeasuredastheamountofsalesduetotechnologicallyneworimprovedproductsasapercentageoftotalsalesoverthelastthreeyears.Thisindicatoriswidelyadoptedininnovationstudies(Yametal.,2004).

5.1.4.Controlvariable

Companysizewasusedasacontrolvariableinthisstudy.Previousinvestigationshaveindicatedtherecouldbeapositiverelationshipbetweencompanysizeandtechnologicalinnovationperformance.Sizecanaffectaﬁrm’sinnovationandperformance(Rothwell,1983;Pavittetal.,1987).Largecompaniestendtohavemoreresourceswithwhichtoenhancetheirinnovationcapabil-ityandperformance.Theyareusuallymorepowerfulthansmallcompaniesandhavesomeadvantagesingainingthesupportofheadquartersfortheirbusinessoperationsandinnovationactiv-ities(Tsai,2001).Ontheotherhand,otherstudieshaveshowndifferentconclusions:thoseofWanetal.(2003)andCaloghirouetal.(2004)revealedthatcompanysizehasnodirectinﬂuenceontechnologicalinnovationperformance.

Giventhatthisstudyincludeddatafromﬁveindustries,wecon-trolledforthepossibilityofindustryeffectsinouranalysisbyusingdummyvariablesforthetypeofindustry.Thisapproachwastakenbecauseﬁrmsfromdifferentindustriesmayhavedifferinglevelsofperformanceininnovationcapabilityandefﬁciency.

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Table2

Demographiccharacteristicsofthesampledﬁrms(N=200).

PercentageTypeofindustryElectronics

4120.5Electricalappliance8341.5Toys

2613.0Watchandclock3919.5Machinery115.5Companysize1–1002110.6101–5005326.8501–1000147.11001–30005829.3>3000

26.2

5.2.Pilotstudy

Weconsultedaresearcherinterestedintechnologicalinnova-tionandfourindustryexecutivesprimarilytoimprovethesurveyinstrumentandensureahighlevelofcontentvalidity.Apre-testwasthencarriedoutwithaconveniencesampleof30managersworkinginthemanufacturingindustriesincludedinthestudy.Theywereaskedtocompletethequestionnaireandtocommentontheclarityandappropriatenessoftheitemsincluded.Simplesta-tisticalanalyseswereundertakentotestthereliabilityofthescalesadopted.Therevisedquestionnairewasthensenttothesampledﬁrmsbymail.5.3.Sample

HongKongmanufacturersfromtheelectronics,electri-calappliance,toy,machinery,andwatch&clockindustrieswereselectedasthesampleframeinthesurveyconductedforthisstudy.Theseindustrieswerechosenfortworea-sons.First,theydeveloprelativelycomplexandadvancedproductsinvolvingactiveparticipationintechnologicalprod-uctandprocessinnovationstomaintaintheircompetitiveness(HKTDC,2000).Second,theseindustriescombinedmadea40.1%contributiontothetotalvalueofexportsamongallmanufac-turingindustriesin1999.Studyingtechnologicalproductandprocessinnovationsintheseindustriesisthusofgreatsigniﬁ-cance.

ThesampleforthemailsurveyusedtocollectthedatawasdrawnfromﬁrmslistedintheDirectoryofHongKongIndustriespublishedbytheHongKongProductivityCouncil.Thetargetedrespondentineachﬁrmwasthepresident,generalmanager,directorofengineering,R&Dmanager,orengineeringmanager.Follow-uptelephoneinterviewswereconductedtoensuredataquality.Thesurveyquestionnairesweremailedtothe1200selectedﬁrms.Ofthese,1153reachedthetargetedﬁrms,ofwhich12werenotinthetargetedindustries.Ofthe1153successfullycontactedﬁrms,202respondedtothesurveyforaresponserateof17.7%.Afterthedatacleaningprocess,200questionnaireswerefoundtobeuseful.ThesampleproﬁleisshowninTable2.5.4.Follow-upcaseinterviews

Elevenfollow-upcaseinterviewswereconductedtoverifythesurveyﬁndings.Thecompaniesinterviewedinthesecaseswereselectedfromrespondentswithmorethan5yearsofpro-cess/productinnovationexperience.Theintervieweeswereseniorcompanyrepresentativeswithgoodknowledgeofthecompany,particularlyintheareaofproduct/processinnovation.Thesurveyﬁndings,theutilizationconcept,andthedualroleofKIBSwerespeciﬁcallydiscussedduringeach2-hstructuredinterview.

6.Dataanalysis

6.1.Non-responsebias

Todetectanynon-responsebias,atestwasconductedtodeter-minewhetheranysigniﬁcantdifferencesexistedbetweenthelaterespondentsandearlyrespondentsintermsofvariablesrelevanttotheresearchhypotheses(ArmstrongandOverton,1977).Theaveragevaluesofthemeasurementitemsfortheﬁrst10%ofrespondentswerecomparedwiththoseforthelast10%ofrespon-dentsusingt-tests.Theresultsshowednostatisticallysigniﬁcantdifferencebetweenthemeansfortheitemsacrossthetwogroups,indicatingthatnon-responsebiaswasnotaprobleminthisstudy.6.2.Validationofinstrument

Beforeconductingthehypothesistesting,athoroughmea-surementanalysiswascarriedoutontheinstrumenttoreducemeasurementerror(Churchill,1979).Theanalysisincludedassess-mentsofthescalereliability,convergentvalidity,discriminantvalidity,andunidimensionalityoftheresearchconstructs.Cron-bach’salphawasusedtoassessthescalereliabilityofeachconstructintheresearchmodel.Cronbach’salphaforeveryfactor(showninAppendixB)wasgreaterthanthesuggestedthresholdvalueof0.7foranacceptablelevelofreliability(Kline,1998).Thecon-vergentvalidityoftheresearchconstructswasassessedusingexploratoryfactoranalysis(EFA).TheEFAresultsshowedthatalltheconstructshadeigenvaluesexceeding1.0andthatallthefactorloadingsexceeded0.3(seeAppendixB).Theconvergentvalidityoftheresearchconstructswasthereforeconﬁrmed.Discriminantvalidityandunidimensionalitywereassessedusingconﬁrma-toryfactoranalysis(CFA)andtheresultsareshownAppendixC.ThemeasurementmodelconstructedforCFAhadarelativechi-squarevalue(cmin/df)of2.665<3,anincrementalﬁtindex(IFI)of0.926>0.9,andacomparativeﬁtindex(CFI)of0.926>0.9.Thestandardizedloadings(󰀁)forallconstructswerehigh(i.e.󰀁>0.5)andthecorrespondingt-valueswerestatisticallysigniﬁcant.Theseresultsindicatedunidimensionalityamongtheresearchconstructs.AcheckofthemodiﬁcationindicesforthemeasurementmodelconductedduringtheCFAprocessrevealednosigniﬁcantcross-loadingsamongthevariables(e.g.󰀁>0.85),whichindicatedgooddiscriminantvalidity(Kline,1998).Thescoresforvalidvariableitemsineachconstructwerethenaveragedasasinglescoretobeusedinthemodelanalysis.6.3.Hypothesistesting

Thehypothesesweretestedbywayofstructuralequationmodeling(SEM).SEMenablesustotestseveralmultipleregressionequationsatthesametimeandisthereforeaveryusefultoolfortestingoverallmodelﬁtwithalowerdegreeofmeasurementerror.1Inthemodelanalysis,maximumlikelihoodestimation(ML)andstandardizedregressionweightingwereusedforinter-pretation.MultipleindicesofﬁtincludingIFI,CFI,andcmin/df

Asthesampleexaminedinthisstudywasrelativelysmall,partialleastsquaresmodeling(PLS-SEM)couldhavebeenused(FalkandMiller,1992).However,stud-iesinthepriorliteraturehavecontinuedtoquestiontheuseofPLS-SEManditisamethodthatisnotcommonlyusedintheﬁeldofgeneralmanagement(RouseandCorbitt,2008).PLSanalysisalsorequiresarelativelylargesample(MarcoulidesandSaunders,2006;Goodhueetal.,2006).Inviewofthis,wepreferredtoadoptthewell-establishedandwidelyusedML-SEMmethodology(RouseandCorbitt,2008).ThesurveydataforthisstudywereacceptableforML-SEMasthesamplemettheminimumsizerequirementof200(Kelloway,1998)andthestudyadoptedﬁtindexes(e.g.CFIandRMSEA)thatareleastaffectedbysamplesize(Fanetal.,1999).Itisacknowledged,however,thatthesmallsampleexaminedhererepresentsalimitationofthisstudy.

R.C.M.Yametal./ResearchPolicy40 (2011) 391–402

Table3

Descriptivestatisticsandcorrelations.

Mean

1.EXT2.KIBS

3.Learningcapability4.R&Dcapability

5.Resourcesallocationcapability

6.Manufacturingcapability7.Marketingcapability8.Organizingcapability9.Strategicplanningcapability

10.Salesperformance

+***

397

SD1.5371.2991.0991.1411.0971.1581.0231.0601.1211.725

0.450**0.220**0.315**0.347**0.259**0.172*0.488**0.283**0.141+

0.0240.245**0.209**0.113*0.0820.250**0.123+0.168*

345678910

3.5972.8434.8884.2574.3204.5074.8084.3204.5202.990

0.436**0.505**0.432**0.484**0.554**0.474**0.081

0.618**0.721**0.556**0.704**0.630**0.302**

10.624**0.549**0.612**0.683**0.310**

0.483**0.644**0.672**0.346**

0.580**0.665**0.150*

0.707**0.386**

10.263**

p-value<0.10.p-value<0.05.p-value<0.01.

wereusedtospecifytheoverallmodelﬁt.TheIFIandCFIvalueswereover0.9andthatofcmin/dfwasbelow3,indicatingagooddegreeofmodelﬁt(Bentler,1990).AnRMSEAvalueoflessthan0.7indicatesanadequatedegreeofmodelﬁt(Bollen,1989).Theresearchhypothesesweretestedaccordingtothesigniﬁcanceofthet-testresultineachpath,withparameterestimates(p<1.0)beingmadeintheSEMprocess.7.Resultsanddiscussion

Table3reportsthemeans,standarddeviations,andintercorre-lationsofSIs,TICs,andTIP.TheSEMresultsarepresentedinFig.2.Theunidirectionalarrowsrepresenttheregressionrelationshipofthetwoconnectedvariables.Anoteisaddedtodescribethesig-niﬁcantcorrelationsamongtheTICs.Theoverallﬁtindicesforthismodelindicatedagooddegreeofmodelﬁt.Themodelyieldedacmin/dfof1.395<3,aCFIof0.984>0.9,anIFIof0.985>0.9,andanRMSEAof0.045<0.07.Theresultsgenerallysupportedthemainconceptonwhichthisstudywasbased:thattheutilizationofSIenhancesmultipleTICsandthusaffectstheTIPoftheﬁrm.7.1.ImpactofutilizingSIonTICs

TheresultsofhypothesistestingaresummarizedinTable4.TheyrevealthatalthoughallTICscanbeenhancedthroughtheutilizationofEXT,thiswillnothappenunlessKIBSarealsouti-lized.TheunidirectionalarrowfromKIBStoEXTinFig.2indicatesapositiverelationshipbetweenthetwo.ThisreﬂectsthefactthatEXTwillbeutilizedtoagreaterextentifKIBSarebetterutilized.HongKongisaregioninwhichbasicindustrialresearchislack-ing.Technologicallyinnovativeproductsarenormallydevelopedbymodifyingexistingproducts.Hence,technologytransferandpatentdisclosurearemajorsourcesofinnovationforHongKongmanufacturers.However,theeffectivenessofthetransferdependslargelyonthecompetenceofthepeopleinvolvedandthebusi-nessstrategyoftheﬁrm(Teece,1996).Thesuccessoftechnologytransferreallydependsonhowmuchtheﬁrmcanlearnfrompatentinformationanduseitsknowledgetodevelopnewprod-ucts.Anotherbarriertotheacquisitionofknowledgetoenhancetheﬁrm’scapabilitiesisthetacitnessofnewknowledge(StorperandHarrison,1991).Itisoftendifﬁculttotransferknowledgewithouttransferringkeyindividuals(Teece,1996).Hence,thealternativesolutionistoutilizeintermediaryagencies.KIBScanactasabridgeenablingtheﬁrmtoimprovetheeffectivenessofitsknowledgetransferactivities.Forexample,intheelectronicsandsoftwaresectorofsouthernEngland,adensenetworkofregionalbusinesslinkcentershasbeensetuptoprovidesinglepointsofeasyaccesstoarangeofinnovationsupportservices(RomijnandAlbaladejo,2002).InHongKong,similarinstitutionssuchastheHongKongProductivityCouncilandtheAppliedScienceandTechnology

Table4

Hypothesistestingandresults.Hypothesistesting

H1a:EXThaspositiverelationshipwithlearningcapabilityH1b:EXThaspositiverelationshipwithR&Dcapability

H1c:EXThaspositiverelationshipwithresourcesallocationcapabilityH1d:EXThaspositiverelationshipwithmanufacturingcapabilityH1e:EXThaspositiverelationshipwithmarketingcapabilityH1f:EXThaspositiverelationshipwithorganizationcapability

H1g:EXThaspositiverelationshipwithstrategicplanningcapabilityH2a:KIBShaspositiverelationshipwithlearningcapabilityH2b:KIBShaspositiverelationshipwithR&Dcapability

H2c:KIBShaspositiverelationshipwithresourcesallocationcapabilityH2d:KIBShaspositiverelationshipwithmanufacturingcapabilityH2e:KIBShaspositiverelationshipwithmarketingcapabilityH2f:KIBShaspositiverelationshipwithorganizationcapability

H2g:KIBShaspositiverelationshipwithstrategicplanningcapabilityH3:KIBShasapositiverelationshipwithEXT

H4a:LearningcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsalesperformanceH4b:R&Dcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsalesperformance

H4c:ResourcesallocationcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsaleperformanceH4d:ManufacturingcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsalesperformanceH4e:MarketingcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsalesperformanceH4f:Organizationcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsalesperformance

H4g:Strategicplanningcapabilityhasapositiverelationshipwithsalesperformance

n.s.:thehypothesesisinsigniﬁcantandisdeletedinthemodelre-speciﬁcationofthestructuralequationmodeling.

r0.2290.2600.2930.2580.1830.4830.281n.s.0.1170.109n.s.n.s.n.s.n.s.0.442−0.263n.s.0.1940.177n.s.0.433−0.191

ResultAcceptedAcceptedAcceptedAcceptedAcceptedAcceptedAcceptedRejectedAcceptedAcceptedRejectedRejectedRejectedRejectedAcceptedRejectedRejectedAcceptedAcceptedRejectedAcceptedRejected

398R.C.M.Yametal./ResearchPolicy40 (2011) 391–402

Utilization ofInnovation Sources(SI)ExternalSource (EXT)TechnologicalInnovation Capabilities(TICs)LearningCapabilityR & DCapabilityTechnologicalInnovation Performance(TIP)SalesPerformanceKIBSResource AllocationCapabilityManufacturingCapabilityMarketingCapabilityOrganizationCapabilityStrategic PlanningCapabilityNotes: •

Overall Model Fit Indices: cmin/df = 2.591; CFI = 0.900; IFI = 0.923; RMSEA = 0.09 • Strength of significance: at 0.01 at 0.05 at 0.10 • •

The 7 TICs are highly correlated with each other.

4 dummy variables were created for controlling the type of industry. Regression correlation between control variable and research constructs Company size ManufacturingcapabilityType of industry (electrical appliances & house-ware) KIBS Type of industry (electrical appliances & house-ware) Sales performance Type of industry (electrical appliances & house-ware) Marketing capability Type of industry (electronic goods & component) Learning capability Type of industry (watch and clock) Resource allocation capability Type of industry (toys) salesperformance+

Standardized regression weights (r) 0.087*0.221** 0.149* -0.106* 0.119* 0.141** -0.117+P-value < 0.1, * P-value < 0.05, ** P-value < 0.01

Fig.2.Structuralequationmodelingresults.

ResearchInstitutehavebeenestablishedtoserveanalogouspurposes.

AsshowninFig.2,KIBSarepositivelyrelatedtoR&Dcapabilityandresourceallocationcapability.TheR&Dandresourceallocationcapabilitiesofaﬁrmwillbeenhancedbyutilizingservicespro-videdbyconsultancyﬁrmsanduniversities(i.e.utilizingKIBS).InHongKong,collaborationswithuniversitiesnormallyfocusonthejointdevelopmentofnewproducts,whereascollaborationswithconsultancyﬁrmsgenerallycenterontransferringknowledgeandtechniquesenablingtheﬁrmtobetterutilizeitsexistingresourcessuchastotalqualitymanagementpracticesandenterpriseresourceplanningskills.Hence,itiswellunderstoodthatthesetwocapabil-itiescanbeimprovedthroughtheutilizationofKIBS.

Ontheotherhand,KIBShasnodirectimpactoncapabilitiesotherthanthetwomentionedabove.AsmostHongKongmanufac-turersareOEMorODMmanufacturersforwhichthemajorsourcesofmarketingknowledgearetheircustomersorsuppliers,theysel-domacquiremarketingknowledgefromothersourcessuchasKIBS.Inaddition,theshort-termmindsetofHongKongmanufacturersisanotherbarriertoutilizingKIBStoenhancethesecapabilities.HongKongmanufacturersnormallyemployKIBStoﬁxproblemsforthemratherthantolearnaboutnewproblem-solvingmethods.Oneoftheinterviewees(theownerofaprecisionplasticspartman-

ufacturer)complainedthattheﬁrmwasnormallyunabletoobtainimmediatepracticalsolutionsfromconsultancyﬁrmsoruniversi-tiestoresolvetheproblemsitidentiﬁed.Nevertheless,themajorfunctionofKIBSshouldbetoactasknowledgetransferagenciesratherthanasproblemsolvers.ThisanecdotalevidencereﬂectsamisunderstandingamongHongKongmanufacturersoverthefunc-tionofKIBS.

7.2.ThedualroleofKIBS

Theresultsforhypothesis2revealtheroleofKIBSasasourceofinnovation.KIBSactasasourceofnewknowledgethatcanbeusedtoenhancetheﬁrm’sR&Dandresourceallocationcapabilities.TheunidirectionalarrowfromKIBStoEXTinFig.2indicatesthatKIBSarepositivelyrelatedtoEXT.Thatis,theutilizationofKIBSisrelatedtotheutilizationofEXTinthatthelattercanbeimprovedbytheformer.

MullerandZenker(2001)commentedthatKIBSnotonlyhaveadirectimpactoninnovationactivitiesamongmanufacturingSMEs,butalsohaveanindirectimpactonsuchactivitiesbypavingthewayfortheabsorptionofknowledgefromotherexternalsourcesofinnovation.Basedontheresultsoftheanalysisofhypotheses2and3,KIBSplayadualroleasbothsourcesofandbridgesfor

R.C.M.Yametal./ResearchPolicy40 (2011) 391–402399

innovationinHongKong’smanufacturingindustries.Successfultechnologytransferrequiresthatﬁrmsdevelopacapacitytorecog-nizeopportunitiesandtosearchfor,modify,andadapttechnology.

Furthermore,wherethereisawideknowledgegapbetweensuppliersandusersoftechnology,therehavetobeappropri-ateintermediaryagenciesthatconnectthem(Izushi,2003).ThebridgingroleofKIBSisespeciallyimportantforSMEs(ChangandShih,2004;Izushi,2003;MullerandZenker,2001).IntechnologytransferpolicysupportingSMEs,thelasttwodecadessawashiftofemphasistowardsthedevelopmentofinnovationcapabilitieswithinﬁrmsandthecreationofeffectiveintermediariesbetweenusersandprovidersofknowledge(DodgsonandBessant,1996).ExamplesofthistrendincludethekosetsushicentersinJapanandtheUSmodernizationprogram(Izushi,2003).

7.3.EffectofTICsonTIP

AmongallTICs,resourceallocation,manufacturing,andorgani-zationcapabilitieswerepositivelyrelatedtothesalesperformanceofaﬁrm.OrganizationalcapabilityreferstotheabilityofaﬁrmtocoordinatevariousdepartmentssuchastheR&D,marketing,andmanufacturingdepartmentstohandleinnovationprojectsinparallelwitheachother.Forresourceallocationcapability,wemea-suredhowwellaﬁrmmanageditshumanandcapitalinvestmentsmadetosupportinnovationactivities.Formanufacturingcapabil-ity,wemeasuredhowwellaﬁrmemploysmanufacturingmethodsandpersonneltotransformR&Doutputintoproduction.Assalesperformancemeasuredthepercentageofsalesgeneratedbytech-nologicallyneworimprovedproductsinthepastthreeyears,itconcernednotonlythedesignandmanufactureofneworimprovedproducts,butalsotheproductionofneworimprovedproductsthataremarketable.Firmsthereforeneedtodevelopastrongabil-itytotransformaninnovativeideaintoaproduct,organizetheresourcesrequiredtomakeithappen,andultimatelymanufacturetheproduct.Thesethreestepsarecoreprocessesinthedevelop-mentandmanufactureofasuccessfulnewproduct.Firmsthereforeneedstrongorganizational,resourceallocation,andmanufacturingcapabilitiestoachieveoutstandingsalesperformance.

OurresultsalsoshowthatlearningcapabilityisnotdirectlyrelatedtoTIP.However,Table3indicatesthatlearningcapabil-ityishighlycorrelatedwiththeothersixTICs.DespitetheabsenceofadirectnexusbetweenlearningandTIP,theformerisneededtoenhancetheﬁrm’sperformanceintheothersixTICs.CohenandLevinthal(1990)foundthatanorganizationalunit’sinternallearn-ingcapabilitydeterminestheextenttowhichitcanabsorbnewknowledgefromotherunits.

8.Conclusions

ThisstudycontributestothegrowinginterestinintegratingtheRISandFISapproachesinstudyingﬁrminnovationperformance,asubjectthathasnotbeenfullyinvestigatedinempiricalstudiesinthepriorliterature.Linetal.(2002)havepointedoutthattheabilityofaﬁrmtoexploitexternalknowledgeisacriticalcom-ponentofsuccessfulinnovation.Asnotedearlier,inadditiontoconductinginternalR&Dactivities,ﬁrmscanreinforcetheirtech-nologycompetencebyimportingtechnologiesandthendiffusing,assimilating,communicating,andabsorbingthemintotheirorga-nizations(HamelandPrahalad,1990).ThisstudyconﬁrmsthemediatingroleplayedbyTICsbetweenSIsandTIP.Thetechnologi-calinnovationperformance(TIP)ofaﬁrmisdeterminedbyitsTICs,whichcanthemselvesbeenhancedbyutilizingappropriateSI.WeprovideempiricalevidencethatTICscanactasabridgebetweentheRISandtheFIS.

WhensupportedbyKIBS,EXTwasfoundtohaveapositiverelationshipwithallTICs.ThisprovidesempiricalevidenceonthebridgingfunctionofKIBSinfacilitatingtheutilizationofSIsforTICenhancement.TheseﬁndingsontheinterrelationshipsbetweenTICsandEXTcontributetotheRISliteraturebyshowinghowﬁrmscaninteractwiththeRIStoenhancetheirtechnologicalinnovationcapabilitiesandachieveglobalcompetitiveness.TheyalsoprovideareferenceforﬁrmsconsideringhowtoarrangetheirresourcesmosteffectivelytoenhancetheTICstheyneedandtherebyimprovetheirtechnologicalinnovationperformance.

ThisstudyalsofoundthatKIBShaveapositiverelationshipwithEXT.ThisimpliesthatbetterutilizationofKIBSwillassistﬁrmsinbetterutilizingexternalsourcesofinnovation.Atthesametime,KIBShaveapositiverelationshipwithR&Dandresourceallocationcapabilities.TheseresultsdemonstratethatKIBShavetworoles:theﬁrstisasa“sourceofinnovation”andthesecondisasa“bridgeforinnovation”.Thisﬁndingprovidesempiricalevidenceontheco-innovatorroleor“bridgeforinnovation”proposedbyMullerandZenker(2001).TheroleKIBSplayas“bridgesforinnovation”ispar-ticularlyimportantforindustriesdominatedbySMEssuchasthosethatformthemanufacturingsectorofHongKong.KIBSactasinter-mediariesbetweentechnologysuppliersandusers,selectspeciﬁctechnologiessuitablefordevelopmentinHongKong,andtransferinnovativetechnologiestoﬁrmswithinHongKong’sinnovationsystem.

Thisstudyissubjecttoseverallimitationsthatprovidescopeforfutureresearch.First,thedataweregatheredfromasinglekeyinformantineachsampleﬁrm.Theunderlyingassumptionbehindthismethodisthatseniormanagers,byvirtueoftheirpositioninthecompany,arecapableofprovidingopinionsandperceptionsthatreﬂectthecompany’sbehavior.Althoughallthereliabilityandvaliditytestsconductedinthisstudyindicatedthatrespondentbiasmaynotbeaseriousproblem,amultipleinformantapproachcouldbeadoptedinfutureresearch.However,thecomplicationsofconductingalarge-scaleempiricalstudyusingmultipleinformantsshouldnotbeunderestimated.

Second,thecross-sectionaldatausedinthepresentstudymaynotbeadequateforidentifyingfundamentalrelationshipsamongthevariables.Toimproveonourstudy,futureresearcherscouldconductmultiplecross-sectionalanalysesindifferenttimeframestogeneralizetheﬁndingsreportedhere.

Aﬁnallimitationisthatinconstructingthemodel,thestruc-turalequationmodelingapproachadoptedinvolvedthetestingof10researchconstructs,ﬁvecontrolvariables,and10errortermssimultaneously.Althoughthesizeofthesampleemployedinthisstudyreachedtheacceptablethresholdof200(Kelloway,1998)andtheoverallmodelﬁtindicesused(e.g.CFIandRMSEA)areamongthemeasuresleastaffectedbysamplesize(Fanetal.,1999),abig-gersamplemayhaveproducedmoreaccuratestatisticalresultsinthemodeltestingprocess.

AppendixA.Deﬁnitionsoftechnologicalinnovationcapabilities

Learningcapabilityistheﬁrm’sabilitytoidentify,assimilate,andexploitknowledgefromtheenvironment.

R&Dcapabilityreferstotheﬁrm’sabilitytointegrateR&Dstrat-egy,projectimplementation,projectportfoliomanagement,andR&Dexpenditure.

Resourcesallocationcapabilityensuresthattheﬁrmpossessesenoughcapital,professionalsandtechnologyintheinnovationpro-cess.

Manufacturingcapabilityreferstotheﬁrm’sabilitytotransformR&Dresultsintoproducts,whichmeetmarketneeds,accordwithdesignrequestandcanbemanufacturedinbatches.

400R.C.M.Yametal./ResearchPolicy40 (2011) 391–402

Marketingcapabilityistheﬁrm’sabilitytopublicizeandselltheproductsonthebasisofunderstandingconsumerneeds,com-petitionsituation,costsandbeneﬁts,andtheacceptanceoftheinnovation.

Organizingcapabilityreferstotheﬁrm’sabilityinsecur-ingorganizationalmechanismandharmony,cultivatingorganizationculture,andadoptinggoodmanagementpractices.

Strategicplanningcapabilityistheﬁrm’sabilitytoidentifyinter-nalstrengthsandweaknessesandexternalopportunitiesandthreats,formulateplansinaccordancewithcorporatevisionandmissions,andacclimatizetheplanstoimplementation.

AppendixB.Resultsofexploratoryfactoranalysis

Factors/constructs

Reliability(alpha)

Eigen-values

Factorloadingforitems#1

UtilizationofinnovationsourcesExternalsource

KnowledgeintensivebusinessserviceTechnologicalinnovationcapabilitiesLearningcapabilityR&Dcapability

ResourcesallocationcapabilityManufacturingcapabilityMarketingcapabilityOrganizationcapability

Strategicplanningcapability

0.74840.82360.78150.82550.86120.82340.85420.85030.9204

1.5992.2321.6522.2242.8272.2182.7872.3223.799

0.8940.8170.9090.9080.8340.8800.8300.8750.883

#20.8940.8810.9090.8780.8840.8760.9120.8680.890

0.888

0.7930.8410.8230.8400.8960.885

0.8030.7490.850

0.849

Assessmentcriteria:Eigenvalue>1,factorloading>0.3andreliability>0.7.

AppendixC.Resultsofconﬁrmatoryfactoranalysis

Constructanditems

Externalsource(EXT)

•Acquisitionofembodiedtechnology(suchaspatent,license,trademark,design,technicalservices)•Patentdisclosure

Knowledge-intensivebusinessservices(KIBS)•Consultancyﬁrms

•UniversityandresearchinstitutioninPearlRiverDelta

•UniversityandresearchinstitutionoutsidePearlRiverDelta

Learningcapability

•Yourcompanyencouragesworkteamstoidentifyopportunitiesforimprovement•Yourcompanyadoptsaccessedknowledgeintoyourdailyactivities

R&Dcapability

•Yourcompanyhashighqualityandquickfeedbacksfrommanufacturingtodesignandengineering

•Yourcompanyhasgoodmechanismsfortransferringtechnologyfromresearchtoproductdevelopment•YourcompanyhasgreatextentofmarketandcustomerfeedbackintotechnologicalinnovationprocessResourcesallocationcapability

•Yourcompanyattachesimportancetohumanresource•Yourcompanyprogramshumanresourceinphase

•Yourcompanyselectskeypersonnelineachfunctionaldepartmentintotheinnovationprocess•Yourcompanyprovidessteadycapitalsupplementininnovationactivity

Manufacturingcapability

•Yourcompany’smanufacturingdepartmenthasabilityintransformingR&Doutputintoproduction•Yourcompanyeffectivelyappliesadvancedmanufacturingmethods•YourcompanyhascapablemanufacturingpersonnelMarketingcapability

•Yourcompanyhascloserelationshipmanagementwithmajorcustomers•Yourcompanyhasgoodknowledgeofdifferentmarketsegments•Yourcompanyhashighlyefﬁcientsales-force

•Yourcompanyprovidesexcellentafter-saleservices

Organizationcapability

•Yourcompanycanhandlemultipleinnovationprojectsinparallel

•YourcompanyhasgoodcoordinationandcooperationofR&D,marketingandmanufacturingdepartment•Yourcompanyhashigh-levelintegrationandcontrolofthemajorfunctionswiththecompanyStrategicplanningcapability

•Yourcompanyhashighcapabilityinidentifyinginternalstrengthsandweaknesses•Yourcompanyhashighcapabilityinidentifyingexternalopportunitiesandthreats•Yourcompanyhascleargoals.

•Yourcompanyhasaclearplan—aroadmapofnewproductandprocesswithmeasurablemilestones•Yourcompanyishighlyadaptedandresponsivetoexternalenvironment

StandardizedLoading(␭)0.730.790.690.830.870.770.790.880.760.690.600.700.830.750.810.800.680.770.880.770.640.790.750.840.850.860.820.760.79

ErrorTerm

t-value**

0.169.22

0.090.1110.3810.60

0.1210.47

0.030.0613.2211.31

0.120.100.1311.628.888.39

0.190.0912.7310.12

0.160.130.1113.5111.529.35

0.050.0611.6113.47

0.160.120.310.1716.0014.5312.9313.68

R.C.M.Yametal./ResearchPolicy40 (2011) 391–402401

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402R.C.M.Yametal./ResearchPolicy40 (2011) 391–402

EstherP.Y.TangisassociateprofessorintheDepartmentofManagementandMar-keting,HongKongPolytechnicUniversity.Hercurrentresearchinterestisintheareaofmarketingandmanufacturinginterface.

Antonio,K.W.LauisaformerteachingstaffoftheDepartmentofManufactur-ingEngineeringandEngineeringManagementattheCityUniversityofHongKong.Hiscurrentresearchinterestsareintheareasofnewproductdevelopmentandinnovationmanagement.

RichardC.M.YamisassociateprofessorintheDepartmentofManufacturingEngi-neeringandEngineeringManagement,CityUniversityofHongKong.Hiscurrentresearchinterestsareintheareasofproductinnovationandtechnologymanage-ment.

WilliamLoisaPhDgraduateinDepartmentofManufacturingEngineeringandEngi-neeringManagement,CityUniversityofHongKong.HiscurrentresearchinterestsareintheareasoftechnologymanagementandadvancedmanufacturingpracticesinHongKongandPearlRiverDeltaregion.

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