This study examined the impact on a firm’s product innovation success when it expands internationally into a host country with political, economic and cultural institutions different from those it is accustomed to at home. Data on 917 Chinese manufacturing firms’ international activities were analyzed to demonstrate that expansion to countries with political institutions better developed than those of a firm’s home country promotes innovation success, as does expansion to countries characterized by greater individualism than the home country. A more advanced economy in the host country strengthens these relationships. This study was designed to contribute to the extant literature in three areas. First, it was designed to enrich the theory explaining how the institutional environment affects firm performance in an emerging economy. Most previous studies have examined the relationship between the institutional environment and the probability of organizational survival or financial performance (e.g., Xu & Shenkar, 2002; Gaur & Lu, 2007), but this study instead examined the institutional environment and product innovation. Product innovation is, after all, a primary way in which many firms compete and grow (Eisenhardt & Tabrizi, 1995; Wu, 2012). Second, previous research has not clearly identified how different components of the institutional environment individually relate to product innovation success, nor have previous studies sufficiently explored their interactions. This study was designed to fill that gap by integrating the literature on new institutional economics, product innovation and the international expansion of emerging market firms. It sought to derive and test propositions explaining how political institutions and cultural norms relate to product innovation success, and to what extent the relationships depend on economic development. Then, this study extended previous research on the institutional environment to an emerging market context. Evidence clarifying the relationships between different components of the institutional environment and the innovation performance of emerging market firms would be relevant for designing effective and efficient international expansion strategies for emerging market firms. These findings therefore enrich our understanding of the impact of the institutional environment by showing its multifaceted influence on product innovation. Previous research has highlighted the important role of institutional differences between the home and foreign countries in strategic decision making and performance (e.g., Kostova & Zaheer, 1999; Xu & Shenkar, 2002). This study has extended that by clearly demonstrating the importance of differences in political institutions and individualism with respect to innovation performance. This is consistent with the idea that expanding to foreign countries with better-developed political institutions helps a firm avoid the institutional void and political hazards at home and gain access to better-functioning institutions in the host country, which can promote successful product innovation. Individualism in a host country drives a firm to experiment with new technologies and develop new products to satisfy diverse customer needs.

This paper analyses the importance of innovation for 680 EU multinationals subsidiaries involved in international marketing in China, the period of 1998-2009, using unbalanced panel data analysis. To date, the literature on EU subsidiaries has failed to consider product innovation in the strategy interplay in approaching new markets overseas. Building on the resource-based view of the firm, linked with host economic and political institutions, the authors empirically examine the inferential marketing strategy in an EU-China context, by applying econometric techniques to investigate innovation capabilities and to test the presence of agglomeration effect of past innovation activities. We find that EU innovation in China is influenced by both host country institutions and firm capabilities, rendering support to the theory. Our analysis indicates EU subsidiaries’ innovation is positively related to firm advertisement, labour training and host market size. R&D expenditure has a negative bearing on innovation. However, openness has a negative and significant effect on product innovation in China. The study findings have important implications for research on international marketing, new venture decision making, and overseas innovation expansion strategies.

With the radical changes and advancements of industrial economy, it is required to secure product competitiveness through technological innovations to overcome uncertain environments and generate a driving force for sustainable growth. So the Korea government introduced the superior product selection system in 1996 and has granted such incentives as priority purchasing and contracts the products of SME whose technological capabilities have passed the screening criteria. After analyzing the ambiguity of the evaluation procurement used in designation of excellent product, this study proposed seven detailed indexes for evaluation.

The objective of the present study is to analyze the relationship of suppliers and customer participation in product development process and effects of such participation on product innovation since it is getting more and more weight in manufacturing companies. It is also aimed in this study to explore if business performance of manufacturing companies might be affected by the suppliers participation as well as product innovation that is realizable by such participation. From the analysis, following conclusions could be drawn: First, suppliers participation in manufacturing companies turned out to have influence upon product innovation (standardized coefficient=0.193, C.R=3.510), implying that nothing is more important than the role of suppliers who have intention to realize innovation through participation in manufacturing companies. Second, the analysis showed that customer participation exercised impact upon product innovation of manufacturing companies (standardized coefficient=0.686, C.R=6.433), suggesting that the more customer participate in product development process of manufacturing companies, the more manufacturing companies could sharpen their competitiveness. Third, it was made known from the analysis that the product innovation thanks to suppliers and customer participation in manufacturing companies could have influence upon their business performance (standardized coefficient=0.762, C.R=7.666), signifying that the product innovation of manufacturing companies might depend on the participation of suppliers and manufacturers and, in turn, could affect their own business performance.

본 연구는 기업의 제품혁신 과정에서 기술협력 활동과 전유성의 확보가 제품혁신성과에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지 살펴보았다. 추가적으로 협력활동과 전유성의 상호작용 효과 (전유성의 조절효과)에 대하여 분석하였다. 과학기술연구원에서 조사한 2010년 한국 제조업의 기술혁신조사 자료를 이용한 실증분석 결과 고객과의 협력활동과 계열사와의 협력활동이 제품혁신에 긍정적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 또한, 전유성의 그 자체로 제품혁신에 긍정적인 영향을 줄 뿐만 아니라 고객과의 협력활동이 제품혁신에 주는 긍정적인 영향을 배가시키는, 다시 말해 제품혁신에서 전유성의 중요성이 확인되었다. 이러한 연구 결과를 바탕으로 제품혁신 성과를 높이기 위한 전략적 시사점을 도출하였다. 제품혁신에서는 기술협력활동뿐만 아니라 전유성의 확보가 혁신성과를 결정하는 중요한 요인이기에 기업에서는 기술협력활동의 활성화 및 기술의 전유성 확보에 힘써야 할 것이며 이러한 전유성의 확보를 위한 기술보호 수단의 전략적 활용에 대한 통찰이 필요하다.

국제 마케팅 분야에서 제품 전략과 수출 성과의 관계에 관한 연구가 활발히 이루어져 왔다. 이러한 제품 전략과 수출 성과의 관계는 기존 역량의 활용뿐만 아니라 지속적인 혁신활동이 뒷받침되어야 한다. 이에 본 연구는 자원기반이론 관점에서 제품 전략이 수출 성과에 미치는 영향에 관해 살펴보고자 하였으며, 나아가 조직학습관점에서 혁신 역량이 제품 전략과 수출 성과의 관계에 미치는 조절효과에 대해 알아보고자 하였다. 한국 수출업체를 대상으로 한 설문조사를 바탕으로 실증분석을 실시한 결과, 제품 품질 전략과 제품 혁신 전략이 수출 성과에 긍정적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 활용적 혁신 역량이 제품 품질 전략과 수출 성과의 긍정적인 관계를 강화하는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구는 제품 전략과 혁신 역량 간 적합성을 통해 제품 전략이 수출 성과에 미치는 긍정적인 효과를 높일 수 있음을 시사하며, 향후 이와 관련한 선행요인 및 결과요인에 관한 추가적인 연구가 활발하게 이루어질 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

This conceptual study proposed how and the extent to which relational pluralism, defined as a firm’s multiple ties to actors within and outside its industry, can help firms to commercialize exploitative and exploratory product innovation, respectively. I conceptualize a firm’s network within its industry as insiders-based network and the firm’s network outside industry as outsiders-based network. I propose, first that firms maintaining multiple connections to actors in insiders-based network are more likely to commercialize exploitative product innovation; second, that firms maintaining multiple connections with actors in outsiders-based network are more likely to commercialize exploratory product innovation; and third, that firms’ absorptive capacity, as the moderator, strengthens the positive relationship between multiple ties in each network and commercialization of product innovation.