• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.87-100
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• 2013

As the external knowledge networks of firms have become more and more important to their product and service innovations, many global leading companies such as P & G, IBM, and Samsung Electronics have formulated and implemented their open innovation strategy. This study attempts to empirically analyze the effects of CEOs' supports for external knowledge networks, external knowledge network-oriented cultures and inter-organizational knowledge management systems as the major antecedents to external knowledge networks by using the data based on organizational members' perceptions about them. Based on 847 samples collected from employees in three companies in the medical, the construction and the IT service industries, this study performed a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis about the effects of the antecedents to the external knowledge networks on product and service innovations through Partial Least Squares (PLS). The empirical findings of this study show that CEOs' supports for external knowledge network positively influence product and service innovations, partially mediated by external knowledge network-oriented cultures and inter-organizational knowledge management systems. And they also show that external knowledge network-oriented cultures and inter-organizational knowledge management systems have a positive effect on product and service innovations, respectively, partially mediated by external knowledge networks. With these new findings, academic and practical implications are discussed.

• East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.13-24
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• 2018

Purpose - This study investigates the moderation effect of internal factor, a firms size, on the external knowledge sourcing strategy and its effectiveness in generating radical innovation. We incorporate concepts of breadth and depth as two measures to gauge the degree of openness in firms external search Research design and methodology - The dependent variable in the regression model is the percentage of innovative sales and therefore, Tobit regression is employed for estimating significant factors affecting on the ratio of first-to-market by breadth and depth in external knowledge, internationalization, and size. Results - The results show that the external knowledge, in terms of both breadth and depth, has a positive relationship with radical innovation. However internationalization as external knowledge resources is not statistically accepted. Firm size has moderating effect on innovation negatively only in case of using external knowledge resources to a high degree. Conclusions - Firms obtain external information mostly from customers, competitors, and suppliers etc. empirical knowledge in terms of scope and intensity is an important contributor to innovation. And intensity use of external knowledge and information resources can work in favor of smaller firms rather than larger ones. Internationalization seems to have little effect on innovation but it requires further researches with clear criteria and more data.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.117-136
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• 2016

External knowledge search is critical to expand the firm's knowledge base, increasing the innovation performance. However, prior literature has paid less scholarly attention on the boundary condition of the search activity. In particular, the few literatures on the contingency factors are either conceptual or focus on the firm characteristics such as resources and capability. In this regard, this study argues the negative moderating effect of knowledge protection and environmental uncertainty of a firm on the positive relationship between external knowledge search and innovation performance, because these contingency factors hamper the reciprocity and the mutual trust between the firm and its external partner that provides knowledge needed in the innovation process. The empirical analysis is based on the sample drawn from Korean Innovation Survey, provided by STEPI in Korea. The sample consists of 1,637 respondent firms that experienced product innovation during the survey period. We could find statistically supporting results for the negative moderating effect on the positive relationship between external knowledge search and innovation performance. This study extends the academic debate on the boundary conditions of external knowledge search and provides managerial implications for successful product innovation.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1-16
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• 2015

This paper aims to explore the small and medium sized enterprises'(SMEs') technological innovation through an open innovative strategy. Researchers have identified open innovation as external search 'breadth' and 'depth'. Although an open innovation strategy is well known as an effective way for SMEs' innovation, this stream of research examines differences between pursuing breadth of external knowledge and depth of external knowledge for SEMs' innovation. The sample comprises a total of 1106 SMEs included in the Korean Innovation Survey, and logistic regression analysis and odds ratio comparison were used to evaluate the relationship between external knowledge search and innovation outcomes. The results show that both 'breadth' and 'depth' positively affect the SMEs' innovation. When SMEs are simultaneously pursuing external searching for breadth and depth, however, a negative result on innovation outcome followed because of the lack of their internal resources and capacities. Despite these contributions, we have certain limitations that can be regarded as means of future research. Even though breadth and depth are adopted to measure the way of how a firm sources the external knowledge, companies may place the different weight on each source of knowledge. And also, it is difficult to understand how the knowledge gained through external search contributes to a firm's incremental and radical innovation, respectively.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.75-97
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• 2019

In the rapidly changing business environment, knowledge has been recognized as a core asset for sustaining an organization's competitive advantage. In addition, knowledge sharing is one of the key elements of knowledge management, emphasizing external knowledge sharing beyond initial internal knowledge sharing. However, while knowledge management research emphasizes knowledge sharing, which is a positive aspect, research on preventing knowledge leakage that can have negative consequences is relatively lacking. Companies have tried to minimize the negative effects of knowledge management but many knowledge leakage accidents are still occurring. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effects of external factors based on deterrence theory and internal factors based on self-determination theory on knowledge leakage intention focusing on tacit knowledge. The results of the empirical analysis of 100 data sets collected through a scenario-based survey show that certainty of sanctions, social disapproval, and competence are found to have a significant effect on reducing tacit knowledge leakage intention. Furthermore, informal sanctions have a greater impact on tacit knowledge leakage intention than formal sanctions and external factors have a greater effect on tacit knowledge leakage intention than internal factors.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.75-91
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• 2009

Many prior researchers have repeatedly emphasized the importance of utilizing external knowledge as a critical factor for the success of organizational innovation. But they seem to have ignored the importance of the practical methods to advance the ability of finding new way of applying external knowledge to innovation activities. This paper suggests the exploitation of firm's knowledge base in innovative way as a practical method to utilize external knowledge for organizational innovation, because it could be possible to find out a common factor in external knowledge with organizational knowledge base by exploiting it. According to the empirical test with data of 1,143 manufacturing firms, all of the hypothesis were strongly supported.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.171-191
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• 2015

This paper investigates how internal knowledge dependency and its interaction with external knowledge adoption affect innovation performance in Korean companies. We categorize innovation performance into exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation. Especially, we examine business group effects as group headquarters and sister subsidiaries holistically form the boundary of the firm. Our empirical results first suggest that the degree of internal knowledge dependency is positively associated with exploitative innovation, but negatively with exploratory innovation. Second, internal knowledge dependency is more negatively related to exploratory innovation in independent firms than in business group affiliates. Third, independent firms' adoption of external knowledge tends to strengthen the positive relationship between internal knowledge dependency and exploitative innovation. Finally, exploitative external knowledge search appears to strengthen the negative relationship between internal knowledge dependency and exploratory innovation in both types of firms.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.57-81
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• 2008

Knowledge is an essential strategic weapon for sustaining competitive advantage and is the key determinant for organizational growth. When knowledge is shared and disseminated throughout the organization, it increases an organization's value by providing the ability to respond to new and unusual situations. The growing importance of knowledge as a critical resource has forced executives to pay attention to their organizational knowledge. Organizations are increasingly undertaking knowledge management initiatives and making significant investments. Knowledge sourcing is considered as the first important step in effective knowledge management. Most firms continue to make an effort to realize the benefits of knowledge management by using various knowledge sources effectively. Appropriate knowledge sourcing strategies enable organizations to create, acquire, and access knowledge in a timely manner by reducing search and transfer costs, which result in better firm performance. In response, the knowledge management literature has devoted substantial attention to the analysis of knowledge sourcing strategies. Many studies have categorized knowledge sourcing strategies into intemal- and external-oriented. Internal-oriented sourcing strategy attempts to increase firm performance by integrating knowledge within the boundary of the firm. On the contrary, external-oriented strategy attempts to bring knowledge in from outside sources via either acquisition or imitation, and then to transfer that knowledge across to the organization. However, the extant literature on knowledge sourcing strategies focuses primarily on large organizations. Although many studies have clearly highlighted major differences between large and small firms and the need to adopt different strategies for different firm sizes, scant attention has been given to analyzing how knowledge sourcing strategies affect firm performance in small firms and what are the differences between small and large firms in the patterns of knowledge sourcing strategies adoption. This study attempts to advance the current literature by examining the impact of knowledge sourcing strategies on small firm performance from a holistic perspective. By drawing on knowledge based theory from organization science and complementarity theory from the economics literature, this paper is motivated by the following questions: (1) what are the adoption patterns of different knowledge sourcing strategies in small firms (i,e., what sourcing strategies should be adopted and which sourcing strategies work well together in small firms)?; and (2) what are the performance implications of these adoption patterns? In order to answer the questions, this study developed three hypotheses. First hypothesis based on knowledge based theory is that internal-oriented knowledge sourcing is positively associated with small firm performance. Second hypothesis developed on the basis of knowledge based theory is that external-oriented knowledge sourcing is positively associated with small firm performance. The third one based on complementarity theory is that pursuing both internal- and external-oriented knowledge sourcing simultaneously is negatively or less positively associated with small firm performance. As a sampling frame, 700 firms were identified from the Annual Corporation Report in Korea. Survey questionnaires were mailed to owners or executives who were most erudite about the firm s knowledge sourcing strategies and performance. A total of 188 companies replied, yielding a response rate of 26.8%. Due to incomplete data, 12 responses were eliminated, leaving 176 responses for the final analysis. Since all independent variables were measured using continuous variables, supermodularity function was used to test the hypotheses based on the cross partial derivative of payoff function. The results indicated no significant impact of internal-oriented sourcing strategies while positive impact of external-oriented sourcing strategy on small firm performance. This intriguing result could be explained on the basis of various resource and capital constraints of small firms. Small firms typically have restricted financial and human resources. They do not have enough assets to always develop knowledge internally. Another possible explanation is competency traps or core rigidities. Building up a knowledge base based on internal knowledge creates core competences, but at the same time, excessive internal focused knowledge exploration leads to behaviors blind to other knowledge. Interestingly, this study found that Internal- and external-oriented knowledge sourcing strategies had a substitutive relationship, which was inconsistent with previous studies that suggested complementary relationship between them. This result might be explained using organizational identification theory. Internal organizational members may perceive external knowledge as a threat, and tend to ignore knowledge from external sources because they prefer to maintain their own knowledge, legitimacy, and homogeneous attitudes. Therefore, integrating knowledge from internal and external sources might not be effective, resulting in failure of improvements of firm performance. Another possible explanation is small firms resource and capital constraints and lack of management expertise and absorptive capacity. Although the integration of different knowledge sources is critical, high levels of knowledge sourcing in many areas are quite expensive and so are often unrealistic for small enterprises. This study provides several implications for research as well as practice. First this study extends the existing knowledge by examining the substitutability (and complementarity) of knowledge sourcing strategies. Most prior studies have tended to investigate the independent effects of these strategies on performance without considering their combined impacts. Furthermore, this study tests complementarity based on the productivity approach that has been considered as a definitive test method for complementarity. Second, this study sheds new light on knowledge management research by identifying the relationship between knowledge sourcing strategies and small firm performance. Most current literature has insisted complementary relationship between knowledge sourcing strategies on the basis of data from large firms. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, this study identifies substitutive relationship between knowledge sourcing strategies using data from small firms. Third, implications for practice highlight that managers of small firms should focus on knowledge sourcing from external-oriented strategies. Moreover, adoption of both sourcing strategies simultaneousiy impedes small firm performance.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.243-254
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• 2015

To increase their market shares and grow continuously, it is very important for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to expand their markets. Although various factors may influence an SME's effort to cultivate a new market, this research focused on activities related to the search and utilization of external knowledge. After conducting Tobit analysis based on the dataset of 959 Korean SMEs included in the 2010 Korean Innovation Survey, we found that external knowledge search and utilization activities positively affect the market expansion of SMEs. This result has two implications: (1) SMEs should actively search for appropriate external knowledge sources with which they can expand their markets and reduce their dependence on internal R&D activities; and (2) they should implement an efficient corporate system to effectively absorb and utilize external knowledge inside the firms. Despite these contributions, this research has its shortcoming in that it utilized a cross-sectional dataset, which can be further analyzed by incorporating the dataset from previous and future periods.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.3068-3085
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• 2021

The economics of big data knowledge, especially cloud computing and statistical data of consumer preferences, has attracted increasing academic and industry practitioners' attention. Firms nowadays require purchasing not only external private patent knowledge from other firms, but also proprietary big data knowledge to support their new product development. Extant research investigates pricing strategies of external private patent knowledge and proprietary big data knowledge separately. Yet, a comprehensive investigation of pricing strategies of these two types of knowledge is in pressing need. This research constructs an overarching pricing model of external private patent knowledge and proprietary big data knowledge through the lens of firm profitability as a knowledge transaction recipient. The proposed model can help those firms who purchase external knowledge choose the optimal knowledge structure and pricing strategies of two types of knowledge, and provide theoretical and methodological guidance for knowledge transaction recipient firms to negotiate with knowledge providers.