Ambidextrous Alliances, Complementary Assets, and Firms’ Breakthrough Innovations: Evidence from High-Tech Firms in China
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Background and Hypotheses
2.1. Ambidextrous Alliances
2.2. Complementary Assets
2.3. Breakthrough Innovations
2.4. Ambidextrous Alliances and Breakthrough Innovations
2.5. Ambidextrous Alliances and Complementary Assets
2.6. Complementary Assets and Breakthrough Innovations
2.7. The Mediating Roles of Complementary Assets
3. Research Methodology
3.1. Sample and Data Background
3.2. Variables and Measures
3.3. Reliability, Validity, and Common Method Bias (CMB)
4. Results
4.1. Correlation Analyses
4.2. Hypotheses Test
4.3. Robustness Test
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
6.1. Theoretical Contributions
6.2. Implementation Suggestions
6.3. Limitations and Future Prospects
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Variables | Categories | Samples | % | Variables | Categories | Samples | % |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Industry | ICT | 94 | 33.7 | Firm year (year) | <5 | 67 | 24 |
Biomedicine | 30 | 10.8 | 5~10 | 54 | 19.4 | ||
Aerospace | 38 | 13.6 | 10~20 | 74 | 26.5 | ||
Advanced materials | 41 | 14.7 | >20 | 84 | 30.1 | ||
Advanced manufacturing | 48 | 17.2 | Firm assets (million yuan) | <3 | 7 | 2.5 | |
Others | 28 | 10 | 3~20 | 36 | 12.9 | ||
R&D | <1% | 18 | 6.5 | 20~400 | 106 | 38 | |
1%~3% | 28 | 10 | >400 | 130 | 46.6 | ||
3%~5% | 42 | 15.1 | Ownership | State-owned | 68 | 24.4 | |
5%~8% | 37 | 13.3 | Private-owned | 147 | 52.7 | ||
>8% | 154 | 55.2 | Joint venture | 44 | 15.8 | ||
Others | 20 | 7.2 |
Items | Loadings |
---|---|
Exploratory alliance (ERA) Cronbach’s α: 0.838; CR: 0.834; AVE: 0.561 | |
We will seek cooperation with universities, research institutes, and other relevant departments in conducting innovation activities. | 0.849 |
The purpose for our firms to form alliances is to carry out pioneering work. | 0.850 |
The main motivation for our firms to form alliances is to find new opportunities. | 0.657 |
Through inter-organizational cooperation, we have realized innovative activities that we cannot carry out on our own. | 0.609 |
Exploitative alliance (EIA) Cronbach’s α: 0.800; CR: 0.800; AVE: 0.501 | |
We simplify or optimize business operations through subcontracting cooperation with alliance partners. | 0.720 |
Suppliers play an important role in developing new products or providing new services. | 0.745 |
By cooperating with the alliance, we have improved the cooperation efficiency among organizations. | 0.696 |
The main motivation for our firms to form alliances is to obtain complementary resources. | 0.667 |
Complementary assets (CA) Cronbach’s α: 0.891; CR: 0.878; AVE: 0.596 | |
Compared with competitors, we are more concerned about taking the lead in trying new methods and technologies in the industry. | 0.846 |
Compared with our competitors, we pay more attention to using the latest production technology. | 0.890 |
Compared with our competitors, we are more concerned about investing in new equipment and mechanical equipment. | 0.816 |
In the past three years, we have been a leader in product innovation. | 0.589 |
In the past three years, we have been a leader in process innovation. | 0.679 |
Breakthrough technological innovation (BTI) Cronbach’s α: 0.796; CR: 0.806; AVE: 0.583 | |
Our products are highly innovative and have replaced inferior substitutes. | 0.798 |
Our products incorporate brand new technical knowledge. | 0.835 |
Our technology/products are completely different from those of our main competitors. | 0.645 |
Breakthrough market innovation (BMI) Cronbach’s α: 0.859; CR: 0.861; AVE: 0.608 | |
Our product/technology concept is difficult for mainstream customers to evaluate or understand. | 0.704 |
Our products involve higher switching costs for mainstream customers. | 0.806 |
Our products need mainstream customers to learn how to use them. | 0.816 |
It takes a long time for mainstream customers to understand the full benefits of our products. | 0.787 |
Variables | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Firm age | - | ||||||||
2. Firm assets | 0.422 ** | - | |||||||
3. R&D | −0.044 | 0.164 ** | - | ||||||
4. Alliance number | 0.119 * | 0.275 ** | 0.084 | - | |||||
5. ERA | −0.072 | 0.082 | 0.174 ** | 0.151 * | 0.749 | ||||
6. EIA | −0.046 | 0.087 | 0.120 * | −0.022 | 0.286 ** | 0.708 | |||
7. CA | −0.03 | 0.075 | 0.273 ** | 0.161 * | 0.656 ** | 0.370 ** | 0.772 | ||
8. BTI | −0.118 * | 0.036 | 0.169 ** | 0.079 | 0.497 ** | 0.451 ** | 0.485 ** | 0.764 | |
9. BMI | −0.047 | 0.083 | −0.018 | 0.036 | 0.276 ** | 0.324 ** | 0.308 ** | 0.301 ** | 0.78 |
Mean | 2.630 | 3.290 | 4.010 | 2.920 | 5.772 | 4.933 | 5.493 | 5.012 | 4.229 |
S.D. | 1.149 | 0.784 | 1.300 | 1.357 | 1.054 | 1.048 | 1.081 | 1.072 | 1.388 |
Min | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Max | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Variables | BTI | BMI | CA | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Model1 | Model2 | Model3 | Model4 | Model5 | Model6 | Model7 | Model8 | |
Firm age | −0.142 * | −0.071 | −0.078 | −0.106 | −0.061 | −0.068 | −0.041 | 0.039 |
Firm assets | 0.052 | −0.014 | −0.005 | 0.131 | 0.084 | 0.094 | 0.012 | −0.051 |
R&D | 0.149 * | 0.059 | 0.032 | −0.045 | −0.102 | −0.131 | 0.257 *** | 0.154 ** |
Alliance Number | 0.069 | 0.036 | 0.023 | 0.016 | 0.003 | −0.011 | 0.141 * | 0.076 |
ERA | 0.382 *** | 0.282 *** | 0.205 ** | 0.100 | 0.568 *** | |||
EIA | 0.333 *** | 0.298 *** | 0.267 *** | 0.231 *** | 0.197 *** | |||
CA | 0.175 * | 0.185 * | ||||||
R2 | 0.049 | 0.360 | 0.376 | 0.017 | 0.155 | 0.172 | 0.095 | 0.495 |
adj-R2 | 0.035 | 0.346 | 0.36 | 0.003 | 0.136 | 0.151 | 0.082 | 0.484 |
F | 3.550 * | 25.536 *** | 23.310 *** | 1.204 | 8.306 *** | 8.053 *** | 7.189 *** | 44.442 *** |
Paths | Type | Effects | S.E. | Bootstrap (95% CI) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lower | Upper | ||||
Path1: | Total effect | 0.482 | 0.055 | 0.375 | 0.59 |
ERA→CA→BTI | Indirect effect | 0.173 | 0.058 | 0.059 | 0.288 |
Direct effect | 0.309 | 0.069 | 0.173 | 0.445 | |
Path2: | Total effect | 0.368 | 0.078 | 0.213 | 0.522 |
ERA→CA→BMI | Indirect effect | 0.214 | 0.060 | 0.099 | 0.333 |
Direct effect | 0.153 | 0.100 | −0.043 | 0.349 | |
Path3: | Total effect | 0.446 | 0.055 | 0.337 | 0.554 |
EIA→CA→BTI | Indirect effect | 0.126 | 0.042 | 0.048 | 0.211 |
Direct effect | 0.319 | 0.055 | 0.211 | 0.428 | |
Path4: | Total effect | 0.427 | 0.076 | 0.277 | 0.577 |
EIA→CA→BMI | Indirect effect | 0.115 | 0.035 | 0.051 | 0.191 |
Direct effect | 0.312 | 0.080 | 0.155 | 0.469 |
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Fan, B.; Shao, Y.; Dong, Z.; Zhou, X. Ambidextrous Alliances, Complementary Assets, and Firms’ Breakthrough Innovations: Evidence from High-Tech Firms in China. Sustainability 2025, 17, 2812. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072812
Fan B, Shao Y, Dong Z, Zhou X. Ambidextrous Alliances, Complementary Assets, and Firms’ Breakthrough Innovations: Evidence from High-Tech Firms in China. Sustainability. 2025; 17(7):2812. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072812
Chicago/Turabian StyleFan, Bo, Yunfei Shao, Zhichun Dong, and Xiangrong Zhou. 2025. "Ambidextrous Alliances, Complementary Assets, and Firms’ Breakthrough Innovations: Evidence from High-Tech Firms in China" Sustainability 17, no. 7: 2812. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072812
APA StyleFan, B., Shao, Y., Dong, Z., & Zhou, X. (2025). Ambidextrous Alliances, Complementary Assets, and Firms’ Breakthrough Innovations: Evidence from High-Tech Firms in China. Sustainability, 17(7), 2812. https://doi.org/10.3390/su17072812