Purpose From the perspective of the economic theory of complementarity, the purpose of this paper is to examine how internal collaboration and external competencies would provoke and strengthen each other, and subsequently enhance organizational innovation capability. Design/methodology/approach The survey data were collected from 201 manufacturing firms and checked for common method variance, validity and reliability. Structural equation modeling was then used to test the hypothetical complementarity effect. Findings The results suggest that internal collaboration (as a manifestation of exploitative learning) and external competencies, which include supply network flexibility and supplier operational capabilities (as manifestation of exploratory learning), do in fact compensate for each other’s deficiencies. Complementary deployment of internal collaboration and external competencies enhances each other’s contribution to innovation capability. Practically, the study indicates that organizations should consider making concerted efforts to develop internal collaboration, supply network flexibility and supplier operational capability as a bundle. Originality/value Extensive discussions exist in the literature on exploration and exploitation being essential components of innovation and their conflicting impact on innovation efficiency and effectiveness. But how an organization should operationally develop supply chain competencies in order to maximize overall innovation capability still remains largely an unanswered question. The current study advances the research on the inter-relationships between exploration and exploitation by empirically demonstrating the complementary nature of internal collaboration and external competencies in developing sustainable innovation capabilities.

中文翻译：

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供应链能力对创新能力的互补效应

目的从互补性经济学理论的角度出发，本文的目的是研究内部协作和外部能力如何相互促进和增强，进而增强组织创新能力。设计/方法/方法调查数据收集自201家制造公司，并检查了常用方法的差异，有效性和可靠性。然后使用结构方程建模来测试假设的互补效应。结果结果表明，内部协作（作为剥削性学习的一种表现）和外部能力，包括供应网络的灵活性和供应商的运营能力（作为探索性学习的一种表现），实际上可以弥补彼此的不足。内部协作和外部能力的互补部署可增强彼此对创新能力的贡献。实际上，该研究表明组织应考虑共同努力，以发展内部协作，供应网络灵活性和供应商运营能力为一体。原创性/价值文献中广泛讨论了探索和利用是创新的基本组成部分，以及它们对创新效率和有效性的相互影响。但是，组织如何在运营上发展供应链能力以最大程度地提高整体创新能力，仍然是一个悬而未决的问题。