The impact of a company’s network competence and technology management competence on its innovation performance

Past research has consistently shown that companies with high level of technological competence are more likely to have higher product and process innovation performance. However, apart from technological competence, companies need other competences to promote innovation performance. In this paper, a theoretical model analyzing the impact of managerial competences on innovation performance is developed, consisting of four elements: network competence, technology management competence, technological competence and innovation performance. The model is empirically tested using data collected from a large scale survey of 191 manufacturing companies in China. The results show that both network competence and technology management competence have a significant direct positive impact on a company’s innovation performance. Besides, the results indicate that a company’s network competence and technology management competence support the development of technological competence, which, in turn, leads to high innovation performance.