Complementarity effect of supply chain competencies on innovation capability

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.

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.

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.

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.