Moderation in all things: Industry-university-research alliance portfolio configuration and SMEs’ innovation performance in China

Yuying Wang, Changhong Yuan, Shuman Zhang and Ruiqi Wang

Journal of Small Business Management, 2022, vol. 60, issue 6, 1516-1544

Abstract: Industry-university-research (IUR) alliance portfolio configurations are vital for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Our study extends the knowledge-based view and transaction cost theory on SMEs’ IUR alliance portfolio configurations and their deployment in different institutional conditions. We analyze these IUR alliance portfolio configurations in a panel data of listed SMEs in China’s manufacturing industry. Our findings indicate that both breadth and depth dimensions of these IUR alliance portfolio configurations have an inverted U-shaped association with SMEs’ innovation performance. Moreover, developed institutional conditions, characterized by high degrees of regional marketization, strengthen the positive effect of both breadth and depth, thereby, intensifying the inverted U-shaped relationship. Consequently, our evidence contributes to the literature on IUR alliances and firm innovation performance, suggesting that medium levels of IUR alliance portfolio breadth and depth in SMEs result in higher firm innovation performance, thereby, offering several useful insights for both SME managers and policymakers in emerging economies.

Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00472778.2020.1867735 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:ujbmxx:v:60:y:2022:i:6:p:1516-1544

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/ujbm20

DOI: 10.1080/00472778.2020.1867735

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Small Business Management is currently edited by Eric Liguori

More articles in Journal of Small Business Management from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().