Diverse R&D alliance partnerships not only provide access to broad external knowledge but also bring considerable expenses caused by transaction costs and absorption problems. The effective utilization of external knowledge in developing new products is closely related to the internal knowledge base. This study examines how firms' knowledge base properties influence the relationship between diverse R&D alliance partnerships and NPD performance. We empirically find that increases in firms' knowledge complementarity reinforce the positive impact of diverse alliance partners on NPD performance, but increases in firms’ knowledge substitutability attenuate. These findings offer valuable managerial implications that firms should commit more seriously to their internal knowledge base so that they can achieve higher NPD performance when establishing R&D alliances with external actors.

多元化的研发联盟伙伴关系不仅可以提供广泛的外部知识，还可以带来因交易成本和吸收问题而产生的大量费用。在开发新产品时有效利用外部知识与内部知识基础紧密相关。本研究考察了企业的知识库属性如何影响各种研发联盟伙伴关系与NPD绩效之间的关系。我们凭经验发现，企业知识互补性的增强增强了不同联盟伙伴对NPD绩效的积极影响，但企业知识替代性的增强却减弱了。