中小企業技術知識收集、知識吸納能力與其產品創新關係之研究

Abstract

中小企業是台灣經濟體的中堅，但因其資源有限，產品研發也就備受限制，因此影響中小企業產品創新的因素是本研究的主題。本研究以台灣自行車產業為實證的對象，透過個案法及問卷調查法對從事產品研發的自行車企業收集質化與量化的資料，探討中小企業之組織吸納及技術知識收集對產品創新績效的影響。研究中，技術知識獲取以技術知識收集活動、技術知識收集管道來衡量，技術知識收集活動則含學術研究、產業內訊息收集活動。產品創新績效以經理人對產品與專案的主觀評量來衡量。知識吸納以知識獲取、知識吸收、知識轉換及知識利用等四個變項來衡量。研究一的目的在以個案法訪談財團法人工業技術研究院及台灣自行車業之川飛工業股份有限公司、日馳企業股份有限公司，以了解目前台灣自行車之研發活動現況。研究二則進一步對從事產品研發的台灣自行車企業進行問卷調查共獲得49家自行車企業資料，回收率為39.8%。資料分析結果顯示，台灣中小企業的產品創新績效可以由其技術知識收集活動、技術知識收集管道多樣化、學術研究訊息收集活動、研發投資、企業主技術經驗及組織之知識吸納能力加以預測。其中，中小企業企業主技術經驗深度與廣度對組織的知識吸納能力解釋程度最大。由此推論，台灣中小企業的組織學習主要繫於企業主的知識及學習特性。研究中並根據上述的研究發現，提出理論的意涵說明與未來研究建議。

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have made important contributions to Taiwan’s economy. However, because SMEs are relatively limited in resources, their product innovation may be limited. The purpose of this research was to investigate the relation among SMEs’ technical knowledge acquisition, the knowledge absorption and their product innovation. We take Taiwan bike industry as a source of sampling, using case study and questionnaire survey to collect qualitative and quantitative data. Technical knowledge acquisition is measured by knowledge collection activities and diversity of knowledge sources. Knowledge collection activities are further divided into knowledge released from basic science research and knowledge released from industry. Product innovation is measured by manager’s self-evalution of product and project performance. Knowledge absorptive capacity consists on knowledge acquisition, knowledge assimilation, knowledge transformation and knowledge exploitation. In the first study, we conducted in-depth interview with R&D staffs in Taiwan Industrial Research Institute and two Taiwan bike companies to get a glimpse of bike industry’s R&D activities in Taiwan. Based on the knowledge we acquired from the interview, a questionnaire was devised and mailed to 122 bike enterprises that have been engaged in product innovation. The return rate of the questionnaire was 39.8%. The results obtained from the 49 companies indicate that Taiwan SMEs’ product innovation can be predicted from knowledge collection activities, diversity of knowledge sources, knowledge released from basic science research, R&D spending, enterprise owner’s past technical experiences and knowledge absorptive capacity. Enterprise owner’s technical experiences contribute are also a major contribution factor to an organization’s knowledge absorptive capacity. Hence, SMEs’ organization learning seems to depend on enterprise owner’s technical experiences to a very large extent. The theoretical implications and suggestions further studies are discussed at the end of this thesis.