When Latecomer Firms Approach the Frontier of Technological Innovation:“The Springboard Effects” of Internationalization

Abstract

Abstract:

At present, more and more latecomer firms are approaching or have already approached the technological innovation frontier, and attempt to transform from imitators to innovators by taking advantage of "the springboard effects" of internationalization, while existing literatures lack proper attention and in-depth research on this subject. Using the grounded theory methods, this paper carries out a multiple-cases study on four international enterprises to explore the innovation catching-up mechanism in internationalization process. This paper finds that, "the springboard effects" display as boundary spanning, R&D network reconstruction and strategic organizational learning. The bottlenecks of catching-up are the motivation of "the springboard effects" for latecomer firms, the strategic capability and absorptive capacity are the foundations of "the springboard effects". Boundary spanning is the starting point of "the springboard effects". R&D network reconstruction is the key issue, strategic organizational learning is the core stage and innovation catching-up is the result of "the springboard effects". These findings can enrich relevant theories of internationalization and technological catching-up of latecomer firms. At the same time, they have practical significances for innovation catching-up of Chinese enterprises.

Key words: latecomer firms, internationalization, springboard effects, innovation catching-up, grounded theory

Wu Xianming, Gao Houbin, Shao Fuze. When Latecomer Firms Approach the Frontier of Technological Innovation:“The Springboard Effects” of Internationalization[J]. , 2018, 30(6): 40-54.

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