Firms are increasingly sourcing innovation from their supply chain partners. Meanwhile, supply chains have evolved into complex networks, which complicates the role that supply chain partners play in innovation and financial performance of firms. Previous research has mainly focused on the direct effect of innovation on a firm's financial performance, overlooking the innovativeness and complexity of supply networks. In this research, we focus on a firm's supply base, defined as the first tier of a supply network, and investigate the relationship between the intensity of R&D within the supply base and the financial performance of the focal firm. We also examine the moderating role of three aspects of supply base complexity—Number of suppliers, differentiation, and inter‐relationships among suppliers. Utilizing secondary data from Bloomberg and Compustat, we find that the R&D intensity of a firm's supply base is positively associated with the firm's financial performance. Further, all three aspects of supply base complexity negatively moderate this relationship. These findings make important contributions to the literature by establishing a direct, positive relationship between supply base R&D and firm financial performance, which is attenuated by complexities within the supply base.

中文翻译：

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供应基础创新和公司财务业绩

企业越来越多地从其供应链合作伙伴那里采购创新产品。同时，供应链已演变为复杂的网络，这使供应链合作伙伴在企业创新和财务绩效中发挥的作用变得复杂。先前的研究主要集中在创新对公司财务绩效的直接影响上，忽略了供应网络的创新性和复杂性。在这项研究中，我们集中于公司的供应基础（定义为供应网络的第一层），并研究供应基础内的研发强度与重点公司的财务绩效之间的关系。我们还研究了供应基础复杂性三个方面的调节作用：供应商数量，差异化和供应商之间的相互关系。利用彭博社和Compustat的二手数据，我们发现公司供应基础的研发强度与公司的财务绩效呈正相关。此外，供应基础复杂性的所有三个方面不利地缓和了这种关系。这些发现通过建立供应基础研发与公司财务绩效之间的直接积极关系为文献做出了重要贡献，而供应基础内部的复杂性削弱了这种关系。