Soft robots have attracted considerable attention due to their intrinsic compliance and environmental adaptability in complex dynamic scenarios. However, their infinite degrees of freedom and strongly nonlinear dynamics present fundamental challenges in precise modeling and control. To address this issue, this article proposes an adaptive deep Koopman (ADK) modeling approach for model-based optimal control of soft robots. Our approach incorporates the control-oriented loss functions into the deep Koopman modeling framework to regulate open-loop poles and singular values of the controllability matrix, bridging the critical gap between the Koopman model learning and closed-loop control. The model parameters in the Koopman observable space are further updated online to account for dynamic changes under material wear and load variations. We develop a model-based optimal controller with the ADK model for soft robots, where an integral action is introduced to improve the control performance under varying load conditions and inaccurate feedforward control inputs. Extensive experimental validations including set-point regulation under varying load conditions and autonomous disassembly of a three-way Luban lock are conducted, which demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our approach.

Emerging-market startups face substantial information frictions when diffusing innovation in developed economies. We examine whether cross-border venture capital (VC) alleviates these frictions. China provides an empirical laboratory where strong domestic innovation coexists with pronounced cross-border verification barriers, enabling identification of the certification role of foreign financial intermediaries. Using data on Chinese startups with U.S. patent filings from 2001 to 2023, we estimate the causal effect of U.S. venture capital backing on U.S. knowledge adoption, measured by forward citations from U.S. firms. Exploiting matching and quasi-experimental variation in U.S. VC supply and geopolitical shocks, we find that U.S. VC-backed startups experience approximately 20 % higher U.S. citation outcomes relative to comparable startups without U.S. VC participation. The effect is stronger when CEOs have foreign experience. These findings suggest that sustaining cross-border equity ties is critical for preserving global innovation diffusion amid rising geopolitical fragmentation.

As hybrid organizations situated at the nexus of market and state logics, integrator state-owned enterprises (SOEs) face the daunting challenge of navigating competing institutional demands. In the process of CoPS innovation, such tensions coalesce into a persistent trade-off between legitimacy and autonomy. Drawing on an inductive multiple-case study of three large integrator SOEs operating in two representative CoPS domains in China, this study examines how these firms respond to legitimacy–autonomy tensions across different phases of CoPS innovation. We identify two response strategies, namely, aggregate projection and parallel coordination, that address goal conflicts in the goal-setting phase and means conflicts in the resource-allocation phase, respectively. Moreover, we propose a theoretical model illustrating how these mutually constitutive response strategies jointly enable integrator SOEs to secure legitimacy while preserving autonomy in achieving CoPS innovation. These findings deepen the scholars’ understanding of organizational responses to institutional demands, while also contributing to literature on CoPS innovation.

In online communities, members with similar objectives congregate to undertake innovation tasks within self-organizing groups. These groups are nested virtually in multilevel networks in the fluid and boundary ambiguous online communities. We examine the impact of a salient feature of online community—member overlap—and its effects on online group product innovation performance. Drawing from a multilevel network perspective of online communities, and integrating both the resource competition and resource generativity views in online communities, we propose that member overlap density at the group level negatively affects group product innovation performance, whereas member overlap density at the community level positively affects group product innovation performance. Additionally, we investigate how community-based network structure, specifically internal bonding and external bridging, moderates the effect of member overlap density at both the group and community levels on group product innovation performance. Results of a pooled panel data comprising 37,072 self-organizing groups in 463 game product creative workshop communities from Steam support our theory. The reliability of our findings has been confirmed by a series of robustness checks, including alternative variable operationalizations, rolling-window estimation, sample restriction, and extended dataset analysis covering the COVID-19 pandemic period. Our findings contribute to the literature on innovation in online communities by incorporating the multilevel network perspective, resource competition, and resource generativity views.

Strategy research has long linked sustained competitive advantage to barriers to imitation. We highlight network effects as an alternative mechanism and adopt a geotemporal perspective to theorize how firms sustain advantage as it unfolds over time in international markets. Our study examines this question through the performance persistence of social platforms, focusing on how institutional and demand-side conditions shape the sustainability of platforms' competitive advantages. We propose that intellectual property rights protection may restrict the degree of freedom in information dissemination, dampening the role of network effects in sustaining superior performance, whilst demand heterogeneity may enhance the value of sizable network membership for information consumption. Evidence from a cross-country dataset of platforms supports these predictions. These findings enrich our understanding of how geographic variations shape the endurance of a platform's competitive advantage over time, offering implications for both global strategy and platform governance. (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)'(sic)(sic)-(sic)(sic)'(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic);(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).

Extant research maintains that firms benefit from strong institutional protection as they exploit the proprietary intellectual property. We reexamine this contention in a prominent platform context where complementors, rather than the platform firm, create and own much of the intellectual property. Drawing on the insights of institutional economics, we theorize about platform firms holding bundles of property rights to user contributions and explicate how platforms deploy property rights to user-generated content differently than proprietary content. We argue that both platforms’ proprietary content and user-generated content are positively associated with platform performance. However, while IPR protection of the host country strengthens the association between proprietary content and platform performance due to institutional protection on proprietary resources, it weakens the association between user-generated content and performance, as stronger IPR protection also enhances complementors’ ability to appropriate returns from their own creations. Our analysis using a unique large-scale cross-country dataset finds empirical support for the hypotheses. We discuss our contributions to research on intellectual property rights, platforms and institutions.

While existing literature on collaborative innovation with consumers (CIC) highlights the significant role of unique consumers like leading users and opinion leaders, there is a notable scarcity of studies examining the contributions of ordinary consumers, whose importance is increasingly amplified by the embeddedness of advanced digital technologies. How can enterprises improve their innovation by collaborating with ordinary consumers under the enablement of digital technologies? We conduct an exploratory analysis on Kute Smart, which adopted digital technologies to facilitate collaboration with ordinary consumers to innovate customized clothing products. We elucidate that enterprises can harness the enthusiasm of ordinary consumers by enhancing the accessibility and simplicity of collaboration, while also strengthening their capability to complete customized products. In this regard, we establish a framework to illustrate enterprises’ collaborative innovation with ordinary consumers (CIOC) by identifying three fundamental digital capabilities, namely, digital interface capability, digital modularity capability, and data-driven production capability. We unveil the mechanism of CIOC from the digital enablement perspective, thereby enriching the CIC literature and capability theory.

With the rapid development of digital economy, firms are increasingly tapping into online communities to search for complementary innovation from users. From a network perspective, networks in online communities differ from networks in traditional organization in many aspects. A stream of literature has investigated how the networks at an individual level and team level influence innovative outcomes in online communities. We enrich this body of literature by exploring how networks at community level affect the community's innovation performance. Using the data collected from video game communities, in this article, we show that intra- and intercommunity networks can jointly impact innovation performance at community level. Our study not only contributes to the social networks research and innovation research in online communities but also offers important practical implications in terms of how online communities should manage the networks within and between communities to promote innovation.

PurposeThis study aims to explore the different effects of inter-community group networks and intra-community group networks on group innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a pooled panel dataset of 12,111 self-organizing innovation groups in 463 game product creative workshop communities from Steam support to test the hypothesis. The pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) model is used for analyzing the data.FindingsThe results show that network constraint is negatively associated with the innovation performance of online groups. The average path length of the inter-community group network negatively moderates the relationship between network constraint and group innovation, while the average path length of the intra-community group network positively moderates the relationship between network constraint and group innovation. In addition, both the network density of inter-community group networks and intra-community group networks can negatively moderate the negative relationship between network constraint and group innovation.Originality/valueThe findings of this study suggest that network structural characteristics of inter-community networks and intra-community networks have different effects on online groups’ product innovation, and therefore, group members should consider their inter- and intra-community connections when choosing other groups to form a collaborative innovation relationship.

New ventures in an innovation ecosystem can not only receive benefits, but also face challenges. It is important to examine defence mechanisms that new ventures can employ for their healthy development in the innovation ecosystem. Based on resource dependence theory, combining with arguments from innovation ecosystems literature, this paper proposes that new ventures' technological alliances with core competitors of ecosystem investors can be used as a social defence in ecosystem venturing. Furthermore, we investigate the moderator effects of technological interdependence - technological similarity and technological complementarity on the impacts of such a defence mechanism. Using longitudinal information of 4903 investor-investee dyads in ecosystem venturing, we find that (1) technological alliances with core competitors of the ecosystem investor has a positive relationship to venture performance, and (2) such relationship is negatively moderated by technological complementarity. Our findings provide important implications for research on innovation ecosystems and resource dependence theory.

This paper explores the effects and mechanisms of institutional forces on the relationship between path-dependent behaviours and innovation performance from an integrated framework combining path dependence and institution-based views. We first examine the effects of path-dependent behaviours, manifested as product line retention and extension, on incremental and radical innovation performance. In investigating this relationship, we join the institution-based view and propose that the effects of path-dependent behaviours are contingent on political and economic institutional forces. Using the samples of Chinese listed pharmaceutical enterprises from 2010 to 2016, we reveal that path-dependent behaviours are conducive to incremental innovation but detrimental to radical innovation. More importantly, while economic institutional forces can enhance the effects of these behaviours on both types of innovation, political institutional forces can mitigate their negative impact on radical innovation.

Breakthrough technologies enabled digital industrial platform ecosystems are shaping the future industries. This study examines the development process of digital industrial platforms led by peripheral industrial actors through the lens of digital business model innovation. Utilizing an exploratory case study of HXB in the chemical fabric industry, we identify three digital business model innovations that contribute to successful digital industrial platform development: industrial transaction platformization, industrial factory digitalization, and digital platform enablement. We develop a framework to elucidate how these innovations facilitate digital industrial platform development and discuss how peripheral actors can overcome legitimacy limitations to deploy these innovations.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide new insights for managing knowledge reuse in terms of the duality of innovator personality. Continuously developing new products is crucial for firms to maintain and enhance their competitive advantages. However, the limited and highly specialized knowledge can cause innovators of firms to face difficulties in the process of new product development (NPD). In this setting, knowledge reuse becomes a solution that may benefit innovators to overcome the innovation dilemma. Given the fact that innovators with different personality are likely to form incongruent cognitions and affection on knowledge reuse, thus subsequently affecting the performance of NPD, there is an urgent need to investigate the effects of innovator personality in the entire process of knowledge reuse. Design/methodology/approach This paper exploits five-factor model (FFM) of personality to comprehensively investigate the dual effects of innovator personality in managing knowledge reuse based on the two distinct sets of knowledge reuse initiation and implementation. Findings By using the data from 981 innovators of knowledge-intensive firms in China, this study finds that the FFM traits of conscientiousness and agreeableness had opposing effects on initiation and implementation of knowledge reuse. While the FFM traits of emotional stability and openness to experience both positively affect the knowledge reuse initiation and implementation. Moreover, the FFM traits of extraversion benefit the shaping of knowledge reuse initiation whereas encumbering the implementation of knowledge reuse. Originality/value First, this study reveals the different roles of cognitive and affective traits of personality in shaping knowledge reuse. Second, this study exposes the role of innovator personality in determining the performance effects of knowledge reuse implementation. Third, this study highlights the dual effects of innovator personality in managing knowledge reuse. This study offers evidence for arranging the innovators with appropriate FFM traits in various stages of knowledge reuse.

Under changing trend of the digital transformation of the supply chain, with the introduction of technology transfer to construct the digital transformation of the supply chain enterprises third-order game model, analyzes the core and the small and medium-sized enterprises the supply chain decision

Technology and digitalization are increasingly core subjects for researchers across disciplines, from economics and management to engineering and the humanities. Digital innovations, such as the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and various digital technology-based platforms, are influencing business venturing and changing the ways that extend beyond entrepreneurship and innovation practices to influence culture, politics and society. Social media platforms and digital communications have even restructured social relations. Yet little research has fully addressed the profound relationship between technology, entrepreneurship/innovation and social change. To correct this oversight, this Special Issue in Technovation is devoted to publishing original research that enriches our knowledge about the nature of digital technology and its influence on entrepreneurship and innovation in digital economies. We elaborate the emerging new business models, their antecedents, and their economic and social consequences. The issue also highlights key emerging research areas of digital technology-based entrepreneurship/innovation and articulates an agenda for future scholarship.