The Relationships among Relational Embeddedness, Structural Embeddedness and Innovation Performance: An Empirical Study of South China

The relationships among relational embeddedness, structural embeddedness and innovation performance are discussed with samples with High-tech samples drawn from South China. Moderated regression stepwise regression approaches are used to analyze the models. The results show that: (1) the relational embeddedness between firms, suppliers and customers has a positive impact on innovation performance, (2) the structural embeddedness between firms, suppliers and customers has a positive impact on innovation performance and, (3) the closer a firm's relational embeddedness with their suppliers and customers is in the industry network, the more notably the firm's structural embeddedness influences on firms' innovation performance. These findings support the view that firms can improve their innovation performances by strengthening the construction of their relationships in the industry network.