How Do Firms Build Different Innovation Networks? Integrating Technological Platform and Strength of Ties Perspectives

초록

Successful open innovation depends not only on knowledge flows between focal firms and external parties but also on organizing and participating in inter-organizational network. Historically, innovation network has been addressed in platform and network research, respectively. This prevents us from comprehensively understanding the boundaries and strength of relationships among participants in innovation networks. Thus, this study attempts to integrate technological platform and social capital theory, especially the strong-and-weak-tie perspectives, to explore different relationships among agents in various innovation networks and examine how these relationships are constructed. This study applied the comparative case study approach, focusing on the automotive and robotics industries in South Korea, by conducting 21 semi-structured interviews. Results show that participants in the supply chain platform build strong ties through the direct intervention of the government and a focal firm. By contrast, participants in the ecosystem platform construct weak ties through episodic events, enabling short-term gathering. This finding indicates that different types of platforms significantly affect tie strengths and underscore the need for different approaches to establish such relationships. Combining the concepts of technological platforms and strength of ties provides vibrant interpretations of firm innovation strategies.

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