

從動態競爭觀點審視作業流程管理的創新與改進
12
intensive conflicting inter-firm relationship gives the follower a chance to enhance its
competency. That is,
N = (q
‧
H)⁄g
,
(10)
q
=
a
6
‧
r
,
(11)
where
g
is the response delay due to the followerʼs internal concentration of resources
on self-development;
a
6
is the coefficient that reflects the followerʼs commitment to internal
capability development.
4.3 Capability: Process Development Trade-Off
The follower often faces a substantial barrier when learning from the leaderʼs superior
processes (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). If the follower possesses similar types of resources
as the leader, the follower is more likely to digest the leaderʼs process knowledge and make
improvements based on this knowledge (Swink and Hegarty, 1998). For Chen (1996) and
Laamanen and Wallin (2009), resource similarity, $S$, reflects the extent to which the
follower possesses strategic endowment comparable to that of the leader. The resource
similarity will increase based on the follower firmʼs investment in improvement capabilities,
V
, and will decrease based on the amount of innovation capabilities,
O
:
dS ⁄ dt
=
V
–
O
.
(12)
The followerʼs sustained incremental process improvement,
m
, grounds the existing
process, creating small wins that collectively translate into superior performance (Bessant
and Francis, 1999). The followerʼs efficiency gain and cost reduction from $m$ further
reinforce its commitment to continuous improvement:
m
=
S
‧
u
i
,
(13)
where
u
i
reflects the effectiveness of developing process improvement capabilities.
In contrast, the follower may recognize the value of process innovation in pursuit of
competitive advantages (Schroeder, Scudder, and Elm, 1989; Rahmandad, 2012). Indirect
competition offers it a break to explore new and promising technologies to enhance its
process effectiveness and improve innovation differentiation,
l
. Innovation differentiation is