Structural characteristics of extended alliance portfolio configuration and firm innovation

So far, the scope of alliance portfolio configuration (APC) studies has included only one degree, namely direct alliances or partners of a focal firm. Based on the sociological concept of 'three degrees of influence rule', this study extends the scope of the APC of a focal firm to three degrees, and two structural variables (clustering coefficient and closeness centrality) are extracted from the extended APCs of 31 Korean bio-pharmaceutical firms. Then, the effects of these variables on firm innovation performance are analysed using the two-step generalised method of moments (GMM) estimates. The results show that the more clustered the extended APCs are, and the closer their average distance from a focal firm, the more favourable the innovation performance of the firms. Additionally, the average distance was found to moderate the clustering effect in the extended APC for the innovation performance. Attempting to interpret the APC with such an expanded concept is expected to accelerate further research in the future.