University-industry collaboration portfolio concentration and focal firms’ innovation performance: evidence from China

ABSTRACT

It has been a pervasive phenomenon that a firm constructs multiple collaborations with universities and research institutes from diverse geographic regions. This study examines whether and under what conditions university-industry (UI) collaboration portfolio concentration, the geographical concentration of UI collaboration partners, influence focal firms’ innovation performance. The results suggest that UI collaboration portfolio concentration is negatively associated with focal firms’ innovation performance. Besides, the negative relationship between UI collaboration portfolio concentration and firm innovation performance is stronger for state-owned enterprises (SOEs) than non-SOEs. Moreover, the negative relationship between UI collaboration portfolio concentration and firm innovation performance is stronger for politically connected firms than non-politically connected firms. This study contributes to previous research on alliance portfolios and UI collaborations, and provides some meaningful inspiration for practice.

KEYWORDS:

• UI collaboration
• geographical concentration
• firm innovation
• alliance portfolio

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Editor James Fleck and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project of Zhejiang Province [grant number 22NDQN241YB] and the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province [grant numbers LQ22G020005, LY22G020006, LY22G020004].

Notes on contributors

Shuman Zhang

Shuman Zhang is an associate professor at School of Business Administration, Zhejiang Gongshang University. His research focuses on innovation management and strategic management. His research has been published in R&D Management, Journal of Technology Transfer, Industrial Marketing Management, among others.

Chao Chen

Chao Chen is an assistant professor at Business School, Hohai University. His research focuses on innovation management and leadership. His research has been published in Human Resource Management Journal, Leadership & Organisation Development Journal, R&D Management, among others.

Cheng Deng

Cheng Deng is a Ph.D. candidate at School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University. His research focuses on digital transformation and knowledge management. His research has been published in Journal of Business Research, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, among others.