Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
available to all partners. Thus, each partner can potentially receive a greater amount
of knowledge from a collaborative firm. Second, collaboration facilitates bringing
together complementary skills from different firms (Arora & Gambardella, 1990).
Technology often demands the simultaneous use of different sets of skills and
knowledge based in the innovation process (Arora & Gambardella, 1990; Powell,
Koput, & Smith-Doerr, 1996). Hence, this different knowledge from variety of
firms could facilitate innovative ideas. Third, the effect of direct ties emerges
through scale economies in research that arise when larger projects generate
significantly more knowledge than smaller projects. Collaboration enables firms to
take advantage of such scale economies. In addition, in biotechnology start-ups,
Shan, Walker, and Kogut (1994) found that the greater the number of collaborative
linkages formed by a start-up, the higher the innovation performance. And Ahuja
(2000) found the same results in the chemical industry. Besides, firm's
communication relationship with knowledge producing institutions, such as
universities, research institutes, technology-providing firms and bridging
institutions such as providers of technical or consultancy services all enable
knowledge sharing and exchange (Drejer, Kristensen, & Laursen, 1999).
Furthermore, firms without collaboration relationship maybe also have
communication relationship. Communication relationship makes firms to exchange
information about technology, industrial development and etc. What information do
these firms exchange depends on their ties strength. Hence, the more direct ties a
firm maintains, the more information the firm holds. Then firms may exploit the
information to their advantage (Burt, 1992). Accordingly, we hypothesize that:
H6a: The more direct ties a firm has, the greater the firm's innovation
performance will be.
2.3.2 Closeness Centrality and Innovation Performance
An interfirm linkage can be a channel of communication between the firm and
many indirect contacts (Mizruchi, 1989; Davis, 1991; Haunschild, 1993; Gulati,
1995). A firm's partners bring the knowledge and experience from their interactions
with their other partners to their interaction with the focal firm, and vice versa
(Gulati & Garguilo, 1999). A firm's linkages therefore provide it with access not
just to the knowledge held by its partners but also to the knowledge held by its
partner's partners (Gulati & Garguilo, 1999). The network of interfirm linkages
thus serves as an information conduit, with each firm connected to the network
being both a recipient and a transmitter of information (Rogers & Kincaid, 1981).
Hence, if a firm could reach any other firm in the shortest distances, namely, higher
closeness centrality, the firm could get knowledge and information in the shortest
time (Freeman, 1979). Other things being equal, firms that spend less time to obtain
knowledge and information, are likely to have effect on innovation performance
than firms who spent more time. Thus, we hypothesize:
H6b: There is a positive relationship between a firm's closeness centrality and
its innovation performance.
