When Does Competitive Learning Occur? The Impact of Alliance Network Embeddedness on Technological Invasion
研究了联盟网络中关系嵌入性和位置嵌入性如何影响企业对其合作伙伴的技术入侵行为，发现关系嵌入性与技术入侵呈U型关系，而相对中心性则抑制该行为，且相对联盟经验调节这些关系。
Abstract Firms participate in an alliance network to collaborate for specific goals and common values; however, the network situation and the interaction between partnering firms enable them to appropriate their partners’ proprietary knowledge and adopt competitive actions. Little is known about whether and when the focal firm would invade its partner's technological domains in alliance networks. We examined how relational embeddedness and positional embeddedness influence the focal firm's technological invasion behaviour against its partner, and the moderating role of relative alliance experience. Although previous studies have emphasized that a central position would enhance firms’ competitive aggression, we argue that this central position imposes more constraints on firms’ competitive behaviour. The empirical results show a U‐shaped relationship between relational embeddedness and technological invasion, while relative centrality negatively affects technological invasion behaviour and negatively moderates the U‐shaped relationship. Furthermore, the results indicate that relative alliance experience attenuates the U‐shaped relationship between relational embeddedness and technological invasion, while it enhances the negative effect of relative centrality on technological invasion. These findings provide new insights and perspectives to study the coopetition phenomenon in alliance networks.