Overseas Business and Ethnic Ties, Slack Resources, and Exploitative and Exploratory Learning of Exporting SMEs
研究区分了出口中小企业的海外商业联系和海外族群联系，发现前者促进利用性学习，后者促进探索性学习，且冗余资源会增强族群联系对探索性学习的正面作用。
Abstract Network ties are crucial sources of organizational learning. Different types of networks, however, embody different types of resources and may relate to exploitative and exploratory learning differently. Drawing on social network theory and organizational learning, we differentiate overseas business and overseas ethnic ties of exporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and examine their relationship with exploitative and exploratory learning, respectively. Our results based on survey data of exporting SMEs in China find that overseas business ties are positively related to exploitative learning, whereas overseas ethnic ties are positively related to exploratory learning. Furthermore, slack resources strengthen the positive relationship between overseas ethnic ties and exploratory learning. Our study provides new theoretical and managerial insights for the utilization of business and ethnic ties to achieve exploratory and exploitative learning, particularly in the context of exporting SMEs.