Research On The Relationship Between Virtual Integration And Product Innovation Speed

In the current context of global competition intensified,product life cycle shortened and product outdated rhythm accelerated,the speed of innovation of new products has become the source of competitive advantage of enterprises.Multi-agent cooperation is an effective way for enterprises to achieve rapid innovation.As a cooperative business model among enterprises,Inter-firm virtual integration based on information and communication technologies has been used widely in practice.With the rapid development of information and communication technology and the popularization of the Internet,the transformation of new product development models affects almost all aspects of new product development.so,it would impact on new product development process inevitably while enterprises have been integrating with upstream and downstream partners based on information and communication technology.Previous literatures show that external integration,such as supplier participation and customer participation,will accelerate the innovation speed of new products.By reviewing the relevant literature this study finds that different deep integration with suppliers and customers may have different effects on the speed of product innovation.Previous researches compare the impact of integration with upstream and downstream partners on the innovation speed of new products but conclusions not unified.Secondly,It is also found that information technology influenced innovation speed by context-based.However,little attention has been paid to the impact of virtual integration on the innovation speed based on information technology.In view of these,it is found that the following problems are worthy to deepen:(1)How virtual integration with upstream and downstream partners affect the innovation speed?And how different depth of virtual integration influence the innovation speed.(2)In the case of highly demand dynamic and over-competitive market environment,how virtual integration with up and down stream partners impact on the innovation speed? And Under the condition of better inter-firm GUANXI,how forward and backward virtual integration impact on innovation speed when demand dynamics / market competitiveness is high?To solve above problems,this study constructs a conceptual model and proposed relevant theoretical hypotheses based on Organizational Information Processing Theory.Furtherly,based on the 369 samples those hypotheses were tested.Findings are following as:(1)virtual integration with suppliers and customers play a positive role in accelerating product development.As basic virtual integration,information sharing has no positive effect on innovation speed;as deep virtual integration,forward and backward knowledge collaboration and innovation have a positive impact on the innovation speed.Virtual process integration with suppliers has a negative impact on the speed of product innovation;virtual process integration with customers has a significant positive effect on the speed of product innovation,and the impact is the most important.(2)Different environmental uncertainties facts play different roles in the impact of virtual integration on innovation speed.Demand dynamics has significantly moderates the impact of virtual process integration on innovation speed,but the relationship has not been moderated by market competitiveness.market competitiveness has significantly moderates the relationships of information sharing with suppliers and customers,knowledge collaboration and innovation with suppliers and innovation speed;but those relationships have not been moderated by demand dynamics.(3)when inte-firm GUANXI is better,the relationship of virtual integration with suppliers and custromers and Innovation Speed is strenghted with market Competitiveness highly.The research on the relationship between virtual integration and product innovation speed advances the existing research on the relationship between external integration and product innovation speed,and enriches the related theories of product innovation.It also enriches the application of organizational information processing theory in supply chain integration and product innovation.The research has also enriched the relevant research on the mechanism of environmental uncertainty on the relationship between external integration and product innovation speed.The conclusions provide an important reference and guidance for Chinese enterprises.