The antecedents and effects of manufacturer service innovation: A relationship-learning perspective

Although the importance of supplier/buyer relationships in product innovation has been acknowledged by many researchers, empirical evidence remains scarce regarding the effects of relationships between original equipment manufacturing (OEM) suppliers and buyers on service innovation. Surveys were completed by representatives of 142 Taiwanese OEM suppliers in the electronics industry. This paper aims to broaden the understanding of service innovation as it relates to relationship learning through the development of three aspects of organizational competence that influence the competitive advantage of an OEM supplier. This study concludes that information-sharing competence, joint-innovation competence, and coordination competence have positive effects on exploitative service innovation and explorative service innovation. Additionally, there appears not to be a significant relationship between information-sharing competence and explorative service innovation. Furthermore, these two aspects of service innovation contribute to a supplier's internal competitive advantages, but only explorative service innovation contributes to a supplier's external competitive advantages. In other words, this study provides deep and clear explanations for the antecedents and effects of service innovation of OEM suppliers.