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ABSTRACT
Research and development (R&D) collaboration plays a vital role in the development of new products. As both external knowledge sourcing and internal knowledge base contribute to new product development (NPD), this study examines how a firm’s R&D collaboration intensity and internal knowledge base properties (i.e. related and unrelated technological diversification) affect its NPD performance. To test the proposed model, we manually collect multi-source data such as patents and new product announcements in the Chinese automobile industry. The empirical analysis reveals that the relationship between R&D collaboration intensity and NPD performance is inverted-U-shaped. Moreover, an increase in a firm’s related technological diversification steepens the inverted-U relationship, while an increase in unrelated technological diversification flattens the curve. This study contributes to the literature on R&D collaboration and NPD by elaborating the contingent roles of related and unrelated technological diversification. As NPD activities are usually knowledge-oriented, firms should commit more seriously to their internal knowledge-based properties when making the decision of R&D collaboration solutions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Please see http://www.gsxt.gov.cn/index.html.
2 Please refer to http://www.jdcsww.com/.
3 Please refer to http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/.
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Notes on contributors
Luyun Xu
Luyun Xu received the Ph. D degree in Management from Hunan University, Peoples R China. She is an Assistant Professor at School of Business, Hunan Normal University, China. Her research interests focus on knowledge management and R&D collaboration. She has published in The Journal of Technology Transfer, Technological Analysis & Strategic Management, Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory.
Deming Zeng
Deming Zeng is a Professor at the College of Business Administration, Hunan University, People's Republic of China. His research interests focus on open innovation and industrial standardization. He has previously published in Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, Journal of Technology Transfer, Scientometrics, Technological Analysis & Strategic Management, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Journal of Internet Technology.