When and How Does Business Group Affiliation Promote Firm Innovation? A Tale of Two Emerging Economies

Sea-Jin Chang (), Chi-Nien Chung () and Ishtiaq P. Mahmood ()
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Sea-Jin Chang: School of Business Administration, Korea University, Sungbukku Anamdang, Seoul, Korea 136-701
Chi-Nien Chung: Department of Management and Organization, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117592
Ishtiaq P. Mahmood: Department of Business Policy, NUS Business School, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117592

Organization Science, 2006, vol. 17, issue 5, 637-656

Abstract: Using a comparative institutional perspective, we explore whether business groups’ roles in facilitating affiliate firms’ innovation varies by country and time period. We compare the innovativeness of firms affiliated with business groups to that of independent firms in two emerging economies: South Korea and Taiwan. On average, business group affiliates outperform independent firms in South Korea, but not in Taiwan, and in the early 1990s, but not in the late 1990s. The existence of alternative institutional infrastructures for innovation might explain these differences. Groups’ abilities to share technological knowledge and financial resources among affiliates enables them to create value by promoting innovation in emerging economies, but groups’ diversification might inhibit individual affiliates’ innovativeness.

Keywords: business groups; innovation; comparative institutional perspective; emerging economies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (126)

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