Do multinational technology alliances promote enterprises' innovation quality or quantity in emerging markets? - evidence from China

Abstract

With emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) increasingly relying on multinational technology alliances (MTAs) to secure competitive advantage, it has become an urgent research priority to understand how MTAs shape the quality and quantity of corporate innovation. Combining resource-based and learning theories with 651 multinational alliances from 2006 to 2020, we find that MTAs significantly affect enterprises' innovation quality. However, this effect does not exist in terms of innovation quantity. The industry similarity between the company and the alliance (ISCA) and the transnational alliance experience positively moderate the relationship between MTAs and enterprises' innovation quality, while ownership concentration positively moderates the relationship between MTAs and enterprises' innovation quantity. Heterogeneity tests show that the positive impact of MTAs disappears for alliances located within China or in non-high-tech industries, but becomes more pronounced for those established abroad and in high-tech sectors. Our research enriches the study of the context under which multinational alliances promote corporate innovation and deepens the existing literature's understanding of corporate learning within multinational alliances.