Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Meysam Poorkavoos, Yanqing Duan and John Edwards
Hypo<strong>the</strong>sis 6a: The higher <strong>the</strong> diversity <strong>of</strong> ties <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> focal firm, <strong>the</strong> higher <strong>the</strong>ir radical
innovation
Hypo<strong>the</strong>sis 6b: The higher <strong>the</strong> diversity <strong>of</strong> ties <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> focal firm, <strong>the</strong> higher <strong>the</strong>ir
incremental innovation
3.3 Nodal properties
3.3.1 Diversity <strong>of</strong> partners
Diversity <strong>of</strong> nodes refers to <strong>the</strong> differences in ego network members’ abilities like experiences,
resources and practices. Based on previous studies diversity <strong>of</strong> partners have an impact on focal
firms’ innovation (Kaufmann and Todtling 2001). Romjin and Albu (2002) supported Kaufman and
Todtling’s study in <strong>the</strong>ir research on small high-technology firms in <strong>the</strong> UK. Ego networks with diverse
nodes provide <strong>the</strong> focal firm with access to information and resources in different areas and shed
lights on different approaches and technologies (Pennings and Harianto 1992). It helps to make firms
understandings broader and let <strong>the</strong> focal firm to look at <strong>the</strong> same topic from different perspectives.
This will provides <strong>the</strong> opportunity for <strong>the</strong> focal firm to use various channels to seek different solutions
in <strong>the</strong>ir business (Laursen and Salter 2006).
Access to altars with different type <strong>of</strong> knowledge and resources provides <strong>the</strong> opportunity for <strong>the</strong> focal
firm to overcome its barriers. Focal firms in networks with node diversity have <strong>the</strong> opportunity to
observe various innovation approaches and <strong>the</strong>ir consequences which <strong>the</strong>y can use this information
to improve <strong>the</strong> quality <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir innovation efforts (Beckman and Haunschild 2002). According to this
<strong>the</strong> following hypo<strong>the</strong>ses are proposed:
Hypo<strong>the</strong>sis 7a: The higher <strong>the</strong> diversity <strong>of</strong> partners <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> focal firm, <strong>the</strong> higher <strong>the</strong>ir
radical innovation
Hypo<strong>the</strong>sis 7b: The higher <strong>the</strong> diversity <strong>of</strong> partners <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> focal firm, <strong>the</strong> higher <strong>the</strong>ir
incremental innovation
Figure 2 illustrates <strong>the</strong> research model and <strong>the</strong> hypo<strong>the</strong>ses. To address <strong>the</strong> objectives <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> study it
is necessary to collect <strong>the</strong> empirical data and test <strong>the</strong> hypo<strong>the</strong>ses. Only after that it will be possible to
find which properties affect specific type <strong>of</strong> innovation.
Figure 2: Network properties and innovation
4. Research methods
Most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> previous studies (Ahuja 2000, Gilsing et al. 2008) used archival data and quantitative
analysis to study inter-firm networks. But information on collaborative linkage for SMEs is extremely
hard to obtain over an extended time period; <strong>the</strong>refore survey method is selected for collecting
empirical data. Before conducting <strong>the</strong> survey a pilot study has been conducted to test <strong>the</strong> developed
questionnaire and find preliminary support for <strong>the</strong> hypo<strong>the</strong>ses. Case study interview is <strong>the</strong> adopted
method for pilot study. Five companies have been chosen and contacted for <strong>the</strong> interview. Table 1
shows <strong>the</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>ile <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> interviewed companies. The interviews were 40 minutes in average and
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