Research On The Effect Of Asymmetric R&D Alliance Cooperation On Innovation Performance Of Small Firms

The resource base is the core element required for the survival and development of firms.However,small firms face strong resource constraints due to the “inherent shortage” of firm's scale,which seriously restricts the sustainable development of them.Therefore,it is crucial for small firms to obtain resources from the external environment to better serve their development needs.This dissertation takes the technological small firm and the innovative small firm as research objects.Their outstanding capabilities in technology,innovation and R&D form their core competitiveness.In the era of innovation-driven development,these ability advantages are also the key elements to attract external partners.Compared with small firms,large firms are faced with serious bottlenecks in innovation due to their bureaucratic culture,inflexible organizational structure and governance mechanism,as well as the tendency to fall into the capability trap.In summary,although small firms have excellent innovation capability,their resource base is obviously insufficient.Although large firms have a relatively solid resource base,innovation bottlenecks need to be broken.In order to effectively solve the development dilemma of both sides,the asymmetric R&D alliance has been widely exploited in the industry.However,from the perspective of theoretical research,the research on the asymmetric R&D alliance is relatively limited,especially the research on how small firms can obtain more benefits from R&D cooperation with large firms.The deficiency of theoretical research is not conducive to effectively solving the practical dilemma faced by small firms in the asymmetric R&D alliance so as to guide them to participate in alliance cooperation more effectively.To make up for the shortage of the existing research,based on resource dependence theory,institutional theory,organizational learning theory and signaling theory,this dissertation deeply analyzes the value loss mechanism and value acquisition mechanism of small firms in the asymmetric R&D alliance.On this basis,it studies the impact of asymmetric R&D alliance cooperation on innovation performance of small firms.This dissertation contributes to the existing literature by the important extension and supplement from the following aspects:Frist,this dissertation explores the risk that small firms' decision-making autonomy is weakened in the asymmetric R&D alliance,as well as the value that the asymmetric R&D alliance may create for small firms in the following two aspects: the realization of boundary-spanning knowledge integration and the improvement of business legitimacy.Among them,decision-making autonomy is considered as the value loss mechanism of small firms in the asymmetric R&D alliance,while boundary-spanning knowledge integration and business legitimacy constitute the value acquisition mechanism.The analysis of value loss mechanism and value acquisition mechanism is helpful to explore the dilemma faced by small firms participating in asymmetric R&D alliance cooperation.Second,taking innovation performance as the proxy variable to measure the benefit of small firms participating in asymmetric R&D alliance and basing on the mechanisms of value loss and value acquisition,this dissertation explores the “double-edged sword” effect of asymmetric R&D alliance cooperation on the small firm's innovation performance from the two dimensions of cooperation depth and cooperation breadth.Finally,in order to solve the dilemma embodied in the mechanism of the “double-edged sword” so as to help small firms gain more benefits through the asymmetric R&D alliance,this dissertation researches four moderators(i.e.,institutional support,firm scale's asymmetry,product heterogeneity and asset specificity)and their moderating effects from the perspectives of institutional and alliance environment.The research provides constructive guidance for small firms on how to effectively participate in asymmetric R&D cooperation and thus realize greater value creation.Taking the asymmetric R&D alliance as research background where the large firm and small firm implement the joint R&D,based on the data derived from a dyadic questionnaire survey of 136 technological and innovative small firms,this study test hypotheses employing hierarchical regression analysis and simply slope analysis.According to empirical results,most of the hypotheses are supported and results of the study specific as follows:First,cooperation depth and cooperation breadth significantly reduce decision-making autonomy of small firms and significantly enhance boundary-spanning knowledge integration and business legitimacy of small firms.Second,for small firms,decision-making autonomy significantly decreases innovation performance,while boundary-spanning knowledge integration and business legitimacy significantly improve innovation performance.Third,institutional support significantly weakens the negative relationship between cooperation breadth and decision-making autonomy,while the moderating effect of it on the negative relationship between cooperation depth and decision-making autonomy is insignificant.Fourth,firm scale's asymmetry significantly strengthens the negative relationship between cooperation breadth and decision-making autonomy,while the moderating effect of it on the negative relationship between cooperation depth and decision-making autonomy is insignificant.Firm scale's asymmetry significantly strengthens the positive relationships between cooperation depth and business legitimacy and between cooperation breadth and business legitimacy.Fifth,product heterogeneity significantly weakens the negative relationship between cooperation breadth and decision-making autonomy,while the moderating effect of it on the negative relationship between cooperation depth and decision-making autonomy is insignificant.Product heterogeneity significantly weakens the positive relationships between cooperation depth and boundary-spanning knowledge integration and between cooperation breadth and boundary-spanning knowledge integration.Finally,asset specificity significantly weakens the negative relationship between cooperation breadth and decision-making autonomy,while the moderating effect of it on the negative relationship between cooperation depth and decision-making autonomy is insignificant.Asset specificity significantly strengthens the positive relationship between cooperation breadth and boundary-spanning knowledge integration,while the moderating effect of it on the positive relationship between cooperation depth and boundary-spanning knowledge integration is insignificant.