Abstract: It has been an instrumental way to utilize external knowledge to speed innovations. What on earth the relationship between internal R&D and external knowledge sourcing? Will too much reliance on external knowledge decrease the strategic importance of internal R&D? Based on survey data from 209 innovating firms in China, this paper investigates the interaction between internal R&D and external knowledge sourcing. The research manifests that external knowledge sourcing has a strong impact on innovative performance, but not all types of external partners have a similar impact on innovation performance. Furthermore, we find evidence for complementarity between internal R&D and collaboration with value chain partners (users and suppliers) and horizontal connections (competitors, and firms in other industries). However, we do not find support for complementarity between internal R&D and cooperation with universities and other technology-related organizations. Empirical evidence shows that the complementarity or substitutability is indeterminate and rely on firm’s absorptive capacity.

摘要： 利用外部知识实现创新已经成为我国企业创新实践的常用策略。究竟内部R&D和外部知识搜寻之间存在怎样的关系，过多的外部知识搜寻是否会削弱企业内部R&D的战略性地位？本文基于209家中国创新型企业的问卷调查数据，对企业内部R&D活动和外部知识搜寻之间的关系进行了实证分析。研究结果表明外部知识搜寻对提升企业创新绩效有重要影响，但是不同类型的外部合作对象对创新绩效的重要性存在差异。研究发现，企业在创新实践中，内部R&D和纵向合作企业与横向合作企业知识搜寻之间存在互补协同的关系，但没有充分的证据表明内部R&D和大学/研究机构知识搜寻之间存在互补性。内部R&D和外部知识搜寻之间存在互补抑或替代的关系，主要受企业对外部知识吸收能力的影响。

关键词: 开放式创新, 外部知识搜寻, 吸收能力, 互补性, 创新绩效, open innovation, external knowledge sourcing, absorptive capacity, complementarity, innovation performance