Types of technology sourcing and innovative capability: An exploratory study of Singapore manufacturing firms

Despite a variety of technology sourcing modes that have been identified in the current literature, the existing studies tend to either focus their analysis on either a single mode of sourcing or on the choice of external and internal sources. This study goes beyond the existing literature by identifying the types of various technology sourcing modes based on factor analysis. It further links the technology sourcing types with the innovative capabilities. Using a survey sample of 109 manufacturing firms in Singapore, we identified four types of technology sourcing: partnership-based; market-based; value-chain-based and internal sourcing, and showed the significant relationships between sourcing types and absorptive capability and competitive environment. The statistical results also showed varying impacts of different sourcing types on firms' innovative capability.