How does external technology search become balanced? A three-dimensional approach

Firms need to search for external knowledge in a balanced way as over-search entails too much risks and uncertainty and local-search does not promise novel opportunities, as the literature has suggested. We conceptually position firms? search behavior within a three-dimensional knowledge search space, including cognitive, temporal, and geographic dimensions. We suggest that the balance is no longer a matter of finding optimal search distance along a single dimension. Instead, it becomes an art to maintain balance in a dynamic manner across three dimensions. Using empirical evidence from Chinese licensee firms, we show that such a three-dimension balance does exist among firms? practice. The findings in this respect provide promising opportunities for future research, which will significantly contribute to our understanding of how firms search for external knowledge and the implications thereof.