جستجوی دانش های خارجی برای نوآوری: نقش استراتژی نوآوری شرکت ها و زمینه صنعت External knowledge search for innovation: the role of firms’ innovation strategy and industry context

1. Introduction Although internal investment in research and development (R&D) continues to be the mainstay of innovative activity in firms, the capture of external ideas and resources is becoming an increasingly important part of the innovative activity. This trend to begin the innovation process is driven by certain environmental characteristics, such as greater market dynamism, increased worker mobility and rapid technological changes (Chesbrough, 2006). In dynamic environments, firms can no longer rely solely on their internal development, favoring the participation of other external actors in the innovation process (Chesbrough, 2006; Klevorick et al., 1995; von Hippel, 1988, 2005). Previous studies highlight the advantages of combining internal R&D investments with external resources to benefit from complementarities (Cassiman and Veugelers, 2006) and report evidence for the influence that external knowledge has on innovation performance (Chiang and Hung, 2010; Katila, 2002; Katila and Ahuja, 2002; Laursen and Salter, 2006). According to this view, knowledge search processes lead firms to develop the required skills to acquire, use and combine knowledge that, together with internal knowledge, will form the basis for innovation. External knowledge search strategy refers to how firms organize the processes of searching for new and valuable ideas among a large and varied set of external sources of innovation (Laursen and Salter, 2006) including, among others, customers, suppliers, competitors, universities and other public and private institutions. Previous studies have identified two dimensions: search breadth and search depth (Chiang and Hung, 2010; Katila and Ahuja, 2002; Laursen and Salter, 2006). Search breadth refers to the diversity of sources used, and an extensive search strategy is characterized by establishing relationships with a high number of organizations. On the other hand, search depth is related to the degree of intensity of the relationship with the external sources, and an intensive search strategy entails deeper relationships with the sources (Laursen and Salter, 2006).