Chengli Shu

Managing Knowledge for Innovation: The Role of Cooperation, Competition, and Alliance Nationality

Strategic alliances play a critical role in global innovation. Firms can overcome resource constraints and achieve superior innovative performance not only by using internal resources but also by acquiring knowledge-based capabilities from alliance partners. In this study, the authors investigate how knowledge acquired from alliance partners affects organizational knowledge creation, which in turn leads to innovative performance. The authors propose that the knowledge–innovation relationship is stronger in international alliances than domestic alliances. The results from a survey of 127 German firms engaged in strategic alliances confirm that knowledge creation mediates the effect of knowledge acquisition on innovative performance and that international alliances strengthen the effect of knowledge creation on innovative performance. In addition, the authors find that interfirm cooperation and competition coexist in strategic alliances and that both factors increase knowledge acquisition, though from different motivational bases.

A Contingent View of Partner Coopetition in International Joint Ventures

Is coopetition between foreign and local partners good or bad for international joint venture (IJV) performance? This study develops a contingent view to examine how the efficacy of coopetition is conditional on IJV characteristics (i.e., foreign equity share and partner cultural compatibility) and environmental factors (i.e., technological turbulence and market growth). The results from analyzing 194 IJVs in China reveal that coopetition fosters IJV performance under the conditions of high foreign equity share, low partner cultural compatibility, high technological turbulence, and/or high market growth. In contrast, coopetition hinders IJV performance at low levels of foreign equity share, technological turbulence, and/or market growth, or at high levels of partner cultural compatibility. These findings support the authors’ contingent view of coopetition and provide novel insights for managing partner coopetition in IJVs.