This study has several limitations. First, in social network studies, relationships are usually specific to a particular domain. In this research, we only focus on communication relationship with collaboration, competition, and institutions. Maybe other types of relationships also have an influence on innovation performance.
Second, though samples of LCN are enough (86%), return rate of other firms in optoelectronics industry is quite low (38%). It could result in some research bias.
Third, innovation performance was assessed by the respondents using their subjective opinions. Although only executives from the R&D department or general management were asked, the subjective nature of the answer is problematic.
Future research should extend network scope. For example, future research could survey optoelectronics industry of different science park, industry, and even nation to examine the effect on several subnetworks. Besides, future research should discuss actor’s attributes (e.g. innovativeness) and network features at the same time, to better understand the interaction between actor’s attributes and network features.
Reference
Abernathy, J. W., & Utterback, M. J. (1988). Patterns of industrial innovation, Readings in the management of innovation (2 ed.). (L. M. Tushman, & L. W. Moore, Eds.) Cambridge, MA: Ballinger/ Harper & Row.
Ahuja, G. (2000). Collabotation networks, structural holes, and inovation: A longitudinal study. Administrative Science Quarterly , 45, pp. 425-455.
Arora, A., & Gambardella, A. (1990). Complementarity and external linkages: The strategies of large firms in biotechnology. Journal of Industrial Economics , 38, pp.
361-379.
Barney, B. J. (2001). Resource-based theories of competitive advantage: a ten-year retrospective on the resource-based view. Journal of Management , 27 (6), pp.
643-650.
Berg, S., Duncan, J., & Friedman, P. (1982). Joint Venture Strategies and Corporate innovation. Cambridge, MA: Oelgeschlager, Gunn and Hain.
23
Borgatti, P. S., & Everett, G. M. (1999). Models of core/periphery structures. Social Network , 21, pp. 375-395.
Borgatti, P. S., Everett, G. M., & Freeman, C. L. (2002). Ucinet for Windows: Software for Social Network Analysis. Harvard, MA: Analytic Technologies.
Burt, R. S. (1992). Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Burt, S. R. (1987). Social contagion and innovation: Cohesion versus structural equivalence. American Journal of Sociology , 92, pp. 1287-335.
Chen, C.-J., & Chang, L.-S. (2004). Dynamics of business network embeddedness.
Journal of American Academy of Bussiness , 5, pp. 31-61.
Das, K. T., & Teng, S. B. (2000). A resource-based theory of strategic alliances. Journal of Management , 26, pp. 31-61.
David, F. G., & Mizuhi, S. M. (1999). The money center cannot hold: Commercial banks in the US system of governance. Administrative Science Quarterly , 44, pp.
215-39.
Davis, F. G. (1991). Agents without principles? The spread of the poison pill through the inrercorporate network. Administrative Science Quarterly , 36, pp. 583-613.
Drejer, I., Kristensen, F. S., & Laursen, K. (1999). Cluster studies as a basis for industrial policy: The case of Denmark. Industry and Innovation , 6, pp. 171-190.
Freeman, L. C. (1979, 215-239). Centrality in Social Networks: Conceptual clarification.
Social Networks , 1.
Guilford, P. J. (1954). Psychometric Methods (2 ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Gnyawali, R. D., & Madhavan, R. (2001). Cooperative networks and competitive dynamics: a structural embeddedness perspective. Academy of Management Review , 26 (3), pp. 431-445.
Gulati, R. (1995). Social structure and alliance formation patterns: A longitudinal analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly , 40, pp. 619-652.
Gulati, R., & Garguilo, M. (1999). Where do networks come from? American Journal of Sociology , 104, pp. 1439-1493.
Hakansson, H., & Ford, D. (2002). How should companies interact in business networks?
Journal of Business Research , 55, pp. 133-139.
Hargadon, A., & Sutton, I. R. (1997). Technology brokering and innovation in a product development firm. Administrative Science Quarterly , 38, pp. 716-749.
Haunschild, R. P. (1993). Interorganizational imitation: The impact of interlocks on
24
corporate acquisition activity. Administrative Science Quarterly , 38, pp. 909-938.
Johnston, J. W., Lewin, E. J., & Spekman, E. R. (1999). International Industrial Marketing Interactions: Dyadic and Network Perspectives. Journal of Business Research , 46, pp. 259-271.
Kogut, K. (1988). A Study of the Life Cycle of Joint Ventures. Management International Review , Special Issue, pp. 39-52.
Krackhardt, D. (1999). The ties that torture: Simmelian tie analysis in organizations.
Research in the Sociology of Organizations , 16, pp. 183-210.
Krackhardt, D., & Kilduff, M. (1999). Whether close or far: Social distance effects on perceived balance in friendship networks. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 76, pp. 770-82.
Lorrain, F., & White, C. H. (1971). Structural equivalence of individuals in social networks. Journal of Mathematical Sociology , 1, pp. 49-80.
Madhok, A. (1997). Cost, value and foreign market entry mode: The transaction and the firm. Strategic Management Journal , 18, pp. 39-61.
McEvily, B., & Marcus, A. (2005). Embedded ties and the acquisition of competitive capabilities. Strategic Management Journal .
McEvily, B., & Zaheer, A. (1999). Bridging ties: a source of firm heterogeneity in competitive capabilities. Strategic Management Journal , 20, pp. 1133-1156.
McLoughlin, D., & Horan, C. (2002). Markets-as-networks: notes on a unique understanding. Journal of Business Research , 55, pp. 535-543.
Mehra, A., Kiduff, M., & Brass, J. D. (2001). The social networks of high and low self-monotors: Implications for workplace performance. Administrative Science Quarterly , 35, pp. 121-46.
Mizruchi, S. M. (1989). Similarity of political behavior among large American corporations. American Journal of Sociology , 95, pp. 401-424.
Nohria, N., & Garcia-Pont, C. (1991). Global strategic linkages and industry structure.
Strategic Management Journal , 12, pp. 105-124.
Nooy, W. D., Mrvar, A., & Batagelj, V. (2005). Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Peteraf, A. M. (1993). The cornerstones of comptitive advantage: a resource-based view.
Strategic Management Journal , 14 (3), pp. 179-191.
Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, R. G. (1978). The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective. New Tork.
25
Porter, M. (1998). Clusters and the new economics of competition. Harvard Business Review .
Porter, M. (1990). The competitive advantage of nations. New York: The Free Press.
Powell, W. W., Koput, W. K., & Smith-Doerr, L. (1996). Interorganizational collaboration and the locus of innovation: Networks of learning in biotechnology.
Administrative Science Quarterly , 41, pp. 116-145.
Provan, G. K., & Sebastian, G. J. (1998). Networks within networks: Service link overlap, organizational cliques, and network effectiveness. Academy of Management Journal , 41, pp. 453-63.
Rogers, M. E., & Kincaid, L. D. (1981). Communication Networks: Toward a New Paradigm for Research. New York: Free Press.
Rowley, T., Behrens, D., & Krackhardt, D. (2000). Redundant governance structures:
An analysis of structural and relational embeddedness in the steel and semiconductor industries. Strategic Management Journal , 21, pp. 369-386.
Shan, W., Walker, G., & Kogut, B. (1994). Interfirm coorperation and startup innovation in the biotechnology industry. Strategic Management Journal , 15, pp. 387-394.
Smith-Owen, J., & Powell, W. W. (2004). Knowledge networks as channels and conduits: The effects of spillovers in the Boston biotechnology community.
Organization Science , 15, pp. 5-21.
Strang, D., & Tuma, B. N. (1993). Spatial and temporal heterogeneity in diffusion.
American Sociological Review , pp. 614-39.
Tsai, W. (2001). Knowledge transfer in intraorganizational networks: effects of network position and absorptive capacity on business unit innovation and performance.
Academy of Management Journal , 44 (5), pp. 996-1004.
Williamson, E. O. (1985). The economic institutions of capitalism. New York: Free Press.
Zaheer, A., & Bell, G. G. (2005). Benefiting from network position: Firm capabilities, structural holes, and performance. Strategic Management Journal , 26, pp.
809-825.