How Do Firms Achieve Successful Technology Commercialization? Evidence From Chinese Manufacturing Firms

Xu Jiang, Gang Wang*(王罡), Dirk De Clercq, and Xiang Yi

摘要：Organizational capabilities, such as technological capabilities and marketing capabilities are key determinants of the success of technology commercialization (TC). However, literature has rarely explored how firms combine and balance these two potentially interrelated yet competing capabilities in pursuing successful TC. Adopting insights from the ambidexterity perspective, this article examines the tensions and interplay between technological capabilities and marketing capabilities, and conceptualizes the simultaneous pursuit of both capabilities as capability ambidexterity. We propose that, having a balancing capability (properly matching technological capabilities and marketing capabilities to avoid conflicts), a combining capability (effectively utilizing both capabilities), and simultaneously applying the balancing capability and the combining capability positively affect TC success. We also identify human resource-based conditions (high-commitment work systems) as a contingency under which the balancing capability and the combining capability are more likely to promote TC success. We report results from a sample of 262 Chinese manufacturing firms (based on a total of 524 respondents) that provide general support for the proposed model. Our results contribute to a better understanding of capability-based explanations of TC.

关键词：Ambidexterity. high-commitment work systems. marketing capabilities. technological capabilities. technology commercialization.

本文于2020年发表于IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management，DOI: 10.1109/TEM.2020.2997965，主要作者及通讯作者王罡副教授为本中心副主任。该期刊为学院B⁺类奖励期刊。