How collaborative innovation system in a knowledge-intensive competitive alliance evolves? An empirical study on China, Korea and Germany

In terms of the research content, previous studies did not analyze influences of interactions among different knowledge behaviors on collaborative innovation in the knowledge-intensive competitive alliance. Meanwhile, they overlooked exploring the external control mechanism together with internal interaction mechanism. In terms of the research method, previous studies failed to deal with challenges brought by collaborative innovation complexity. In order to address these gaps, different knowledge behaviors that influence collaborative innovation are identified as knowledge creation, knowledge transaction and knowledge application. The theory and method of synergetics, which is capable of explaining collaborative innovation complexity, is introduced to establish a dynamic collaborative innovation evolution model. Taking high-end medical device knowledge-intensive competitive alliances in China, Korea and Germany as empirical research subjects, we reveal the collaborative innovation principles in the knowledge-intensive competitive alliance by analyzing external control mechanism (resource input mechanism) and internal interaction mechanism (interactions among different knowledge behaviors). Results showed that: I) resource input mechanism, the most important external control mechanism, is able to alter collaborative innovation period. II) in the process of collaborative innovation, there is a highly non-linear positive correlation between knowledge creation and knowledge application, but the collaborative innovation does not depend on knowledge transaction. III) no matter what the role of resource input mechanism is, the collaborative innovation in knowledge-intensive competitive alliance is able to enter into a new stability spontaneously under interactions among different knowledge behaviors. With this research, this study can promote studies on collaborative innovation in the knowledge-intensive competitive alliance, provide new perspectives and methods for researchers, and offer important implications for managers to set strategies.