CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Theoretical Background
2.1.2 Collaborative Innovation Theory
Figure 2.1 The Theoretical Framework of TOE Source: Drazin et al. (1991).
2.1.2 Collaborative Innovation Theory
complement advantages, and accelerate the popularization, application and industrialization of technology under the guidance of national will and institutional arrangements (Soeparman, van Duivenboden, & Oosterbaan, 2009). J. P. Davis and Eisenhardt (2011) considered that collaborative innovation is an integrated innovation organization model and relationship with knowledge increment and innovation performance improvement as the core, which is the extension and application of synergetics in the field of innovation, and includes the integration and cooperation of knowledge across organizational boundaries, technology and resources.
2) The Characteristics of Collaborative Innovation
The main characteristics of collaborative innovation are as follows:
(1) Availability of innovation resources
Innovation resources are the numerous inputs required for technological innovation, primarily including talents, funding, technology, and knowledge, as well as other components. Collaborative innovation can make better use of external resources, effectively resolve the contradiction between the unpredictability of internal technological innovation, the scarcity of resources, and the limitation of technological innovation capacity, and boost the competitiveness and risk resistance of all innovation subjects (X. Wang, 2017).
(2) Ecology of innovation environment
The collaborative innovation environment’s ecosystem is an organic collection of innovation aspects based on open innovation and network innovation. It is a condition in which basic enterprise capabilities continue to expand.
The competition mechanism of a system for collaborative invention can maximize resource allocation. To ensure the efficient operation of the entire system, all actors of innovation constantly generate new innovation demands in their pursuit of maximum adaptation and compatibility.
(3) Sharing of innovative achievements
Collaborative innovation is a part of knowledge management’s collaborative development. It is the transmission, assimilation, digestion, sharing, incorporation, application, and re-creation of knowledge amongst cooperative groups.
Essentially, it is the transformation and promotion of tacit and explicit knowledge held by enterprises, universities, and scientific research institutions.
(4) Sustainability of innovation and development
It is capable of sustaining long-term, stable, mutually advantageous, and symbiotic cooperation in the form of Industry-university Research combination, enterprise alliance, and industrial cluster. The organizational structure of collaborative innovation is more diverse and diversified, with better endogenous development capability and greater vitality, so as to increase the innovation and development’s sustainability.
3) Research related to Collaborative Innovation
Numerous scholars are currently examining collaborative innovation from the perspectives of customers, partners, enterprise managers, entrepreneurship, organizational cooperation, and government regulations, among others (Fernandes &
Remelhe, 2016). Collaboration is a crucial method for promoting technological integration (Hwang, 2020). Government policies can encourage enterprises to boost their collaborative innovation behavior and play a role in collaborative innovation through having a favorable effect on enterprise innovation profitability, entrepreneurship, and innovation incentives (Wan Mohamed, Omar, Ahmad, & Juned, 2012). Integration of a digital platform and collaborative innovation can facilitate the invention process and become the driving force of operational collaboration. Using a digital platform helps decrease transaction expenses (Falco et al., 2017). Collaboration is increasing in innovation, and the role of digital platforms in inter-enterprise collaboration is also growing (F. Wang, Zhao, Chi, & Li, 2017). Collaborative innovation networks can foster the capacity for interaction and cooperation among members, while also fostering creativity by enhancing the level of knowledge (Cinelli, Ferraro, & Iovanella, 2019). Collaborative innovation activities, knowledge sharing, and the capability of collaborative innovation can positively improve enterprise innovation performance (C. Wang & Hu, 2020). Numerous high-performance enterprises aggressively collaborate with suppliers, consumers, business partners, and others for the sake of innovation (Owen, Goldwasser, Choate, & Blitz, 2008).
The government and enterprises are also aggressively investigating the growth of collaborative innovation in the DT. The government is able to design policies that encourage collaborative innovation, such as expanding the construction of new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructures and expanding the
collaborative innovation of big data. The Chinese government departments jointly issued “the guiding opinions on speeding the establishment of the national integrated big data center’s collaborative innovation system” (NDRC, 2020). Government and enterprises collaborate to foster collaborative innovation. On October 13, 2021, for instance, twelve central firms formed in Tianjin a joint innovation platform for automotive DT. Through this platform, it will accomplish local breakthroughs in key core technologies of DT, investigate new coordination mechanisms and modes, enable industrial transformation and upgrading, and enhance industrial chain coordination (China Network Television: CNTV, 2021).
Collaboration among enterprises fosters the growth of collaborative innovation. For instance, central enterprises in the Dawan district form the Digital Collaborative Innovation Alliance of central enterprises. The collaboration can enhance technology empowerment and offer a platform for digital technology empowerment (Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company: STIB, 2020). Universities and enterprises investigate industrial innovation collaboratively. For instance, prominent Chinese institutions and enterprises investigate the “industry-driven” innovation process and method collaboratively. While recruiting global inventive talents and innovation elements, they investigate the growth of the service industry and support the development of scientific research capability and talent training innovation mode (YNET, 2021).
The NGIT tools can facilitate digital collaborative innovation in enterprises. The interaction between enterprises and their upstream and downstream partners can be coordinated through the cooperation of numerous factors to jointly stimulate creativity (Bi, 2021). Consequently, by depending on the collaborative innovation of cooperation models, technologies, enterprises, and applications, enterprises can achieve the innovation of business models and realize their DT.