聯盟夥伴組合和新技術領域創新績效之關係: 美國生技醫藥產業實證研究

Abstract

本論文之研究目的在於探討廠商在新技術領域創新績效與聯盟夥伴組合之間的關聯性，同時更進一步從情境觀點探討廠商的吸納能力和所面對的環境競爭強度，是否會對上述關係產生干擾影響以及如何影響。 近年來的研究發現，廠商在自行發展之餘，逐漸借助外在的力量來從事研究發展活動。於此，廠商之間的策略聯盟活動迅速興起，廠商開始透過不同策略聯盟合作方式，獲取相關資源、技術和市場。在此趨勢下，已有相當多研究在探討策略聯盟與績效之間的關聯性。回顧過去研究發現，在策略聯盟和廠商個別創新績效之聯結上，雖然有不少的研究成果，但對於進一步連結研發聯盟夥伴組合與廠商在新技術領域創新績效之研究並不多。以跨組織學習的觀點而言，廠商究竟應該選擇相似或相異的合作夥伴，在策略聯盟相關研究上仍呈現分歧的看法。如果廠商希望利用策略聯盟之合作方式去發展新技術領域的話，應建立怎樣的聯盟夥伴組合對其在新技術領域創新會有正面助益，此為本研究期望在這一議題上再進一步釐清並有所貢獻。 基於聯盟夥伴組合對廠商創新績效的影響上之研究仍有限，加上部份學者指出廠商的吸納能力(absorptive capacity)是影響廠商能否吸收外來知識的關鍵，再者，策略聯盟活動乃鑲嵌於廠商所處的環境之中，廠商願意投入多少資源，進而可學習到多少，會隨著不同的外在環境而有不同。因此，本研究以情境觀點討論吸納能力和環境競爭性如何影響夥伴組合與廠商在新技術領域創新間關係。 本研究的主要研究樣本鎖定在生技醫藥產業之廠商，並透過SDC、USPTO資料庫蒐集策略聯盟和專利等資料，以及COMPUSTAT資料庫蒐集公司財務資料，時間涵蓋範圍自1990年到2000年共11年。考量本研究樣本包含不同規模的廠商，為使實證結果更為穩健，本研究將研究樣本以員工人數及營業額規模再分為大型和小型廠商兩個子樣本，扣除部份有遺漏值的廠商-年資料之後，此期間確認大型廠商樣本有26家廠商、153筆觀察資料，以及小型廠商樣本有170家廠商、345筆觀察資料，並分別以兩樣本進行迴歸分析。在實證結果部份，本研究將聯盟夥伴組合區別為專業知識差異和一般知識差異，結果顯示當專業知識差異愈大，對大型廠商在新技術領域創新的表現會有正向影響，但對小型廠商則沒有顯著影響。當一般知識差異愈大對大、小型廠商在新技術領域創新表現都有正向影響，但其效益隨著差異擴大呈現遞減。 在考量廠商的吸納能力和所面對環境競爭強度等不同內外在情境因素下更發現，情境因素的干擾影響在小型廠商樣本下相對顯著。對小型廠商而言，廠商知識深化程度、知識多樣化程度和所面對環境競爭強度分別會強化專業知識差異對新技術領域創新績效的正向關係；但對一般知識差異與新技術領域創新績效關係之干擾影響則依一般知識差異程度高低而有不同。當一般知識差異處於一般水準時，知識深化程度愈高和環境競爭強度愈高會弱化一般知識差異對新技術領域創新績效的效果，知識多樣化程度愈高則會強化一般知識差異對新技術領域創新績效的效果；而當一般知識差異處於很高水準時，知識深化程度愈高會強化一般知識差異對新技術領域創新績效的正向效果，知識多樣化程度愈高則會弱化一般知識差異對新技術領域創新績效的影響，但環境競爭強度在一般知識差異程度很大時並沒有干擾影響。對大型廠商而言，僅廠商知識多樣化程度對一般知識差異與新技術領域創新績效關係上有干擾影響，有趣的是，其干擾效果與小型廠商相反。至於廠商研發投入多寡，不論是大型或小型廠商，都沒有顯著干擾影響。 歸結上述結果，本研究認為透過研發聯盟以取得外在知識確有其重要性，藉由適當的夥伴組合，可使廠商有效提升其在新技術領域開發上的機會與能力；但須留意的是，欲有效運用外部聯盟的優勢，廠商更應考量其本身的知識基礎和當前所面對的競爭環境，以調整聯盟佈局，進而確切達到合作目的。

The trade-off between exploitation and exploration has been central to the organizational learning perspective, and how alliances affect such a trade-off merits more scholarly probes. In response to the call for more empirical inquiries into the outcome of alliances, this study aims to explore the impact of a portfolio of strategic alliances on the performance of a firm’s entry into new technological areas and to explore the moderating effects of absorptive capacity and competitive pressure. This study conducts the empirical investigation of the bio-pharmaceutical industry in U.S. using a panel dataset covering the period from 1990 to 2000. The samples of allied firms in the bio-pharmaceutical industry are drawn from the SDC database, firm-level patent data are drawn from the USPTO database, and firm-level financial data are drawn from the COMPUSTAT database. Further, this study divides all samples into two subgroups (large and small firms) in order to contrast both large, established pharmaceutical companies and relatively small, entrepreneurial biotechnology firms and observe the difference between these two subgroups. Finally, this study identified 153 firm-years observations containing 26 focal firms for large firm size group and 345 firm-years observations containing 170 focal firms for small firm size group and conducted a subsample analysis. The findings reveal that for large firms, specialized knowledge variation in an alliance portfolio is positively associated with the performance of a firm’s entry into new technological areas. For both large and small firms, general knowledge variation in an alliance portfolio is positively associated with the performance of a firm’s entry into new technological areas, but exhibiting diminishing marginal returns. Furthermore, this study conducts subgroup analyses to examine the moderating role of other contingency factors in the setting of the U.S. bio-pharmaceutical industry and finds that the contingency-based arguments are quite diverse between large and small firms. The findings for small firms indicate that knowledge depth, knowledge diversity and competitive pressure have significant impacts on the relationship between specialized knowledge variation and the performance of a firm’s entry into new technological areas, and general knowledge variation and the performance of a firm’s entry into new technological areas. Particularly, the findings also indicate that the interaction effects between these three contingency factors and general knowledge variation depend on the level of general knowledge variation. As for large firms, knowledge diversity has a significant effect on the relationship between general knowledge variation and the performance of a firm’s entry into new technological areas, although it is opposite to the expectation. The study points to the importance of external knowledge sources and suggests that firms can trigger explorative learning through appropriate alliance portfolio management; this benefit, however, is contingent upon a firm’s knowledge base and the external environment the firm faces.