Abstract-Researchershavearguedthatalliancenetwork.doc

Abstract - Researchers have argued that alliance network structure can influence firm innovation. We construct alliance networks of 10 high-technology industries in China to analyze their structure characteristics. We use negative binomial regression to study the impact of alliance network structure on the innovation capability of firms. The empirical results show that firms embedded in alliance networks with higher reach will have greater innovative output, and the impact of clustering on the innovation capability of firms is not significant, but the alliance networks that exhibit both high reach and high clustering will obviously improve the innovation capability of firms. These conclusions will provide new scientific basis for firms to develop alliance activities and for relevant government departments to make industrial policies. Keywords - alliance firms, network structure, innovation capability, patent I. INTRODUCTION Innovation can promote economic development and improve production efficiency, so it arouses widespread concern in academia. Network researchers have argued that cooperation among actors affect their behaviors and creative output. Chen and Guan (2009) constructed patent collaborate networks for 9 innovative countries, and their empirical results showed that both short path length and higher small world quotient are correlated with increased innovation [1]. Uzzi and Spiro (2005) analyzed collaborate networks of the creative artists who made Broadway Musicals from 1945 to 1989, and argued that the large-scale structure of the artists’ collaboration network significantly influenced their creativity [2]. Guimera et al. (2005) constructed scientific research collaborate networks for 4 subjects (ecology, astronomy, economics and social psychology), and found that dense network promoted outputs of scientific research [3]. Strategic alliances help firms to absorb external resources and knowledge, optimize the allocation of resources, and improve the c