Manoeuvring National Innovation Systems-Catalysed Innovation Ecosystems Under Salient Paradoxes: A Longitudinal Case Study of Baidu Apollo

Abstract

The development of emerging industries requires close interactions between national strategies and market entities, contributing to the emergence of national innovation systems-catalysed innovation ecosystems (NIS-catalysed IE). However, the different needs of stakeholders within it can lead to irreconcilable conflicts, and this requires focal firms to adopt paradoxical perspectives when it comes to ecosystem governance. Using a longitudinal single case study approach on Baidu Apollo, we investigate the strategies adopted by Apollo to manage paradoxes of its ecosystem to achieve business growth as well as to fulfil the national requirement of industry leadership. We reveal three strategies adopted by the focal firm to govern paradoxes, that is, 1) trust-driven motivation construction, 2) third-party orchestration, and 3) intertemporal value acquisition. The study contributes to the furtherance of existent academic knowledge by unveiling the importance of intertwined national strategic directions and commercial development to emerging industries and by detailing how the focal firm performs ecosystem governance in the context of NIS-catalysed IE.

Keywords: national innovation system, innovation ecosystem, paradox theory, ecosystem governance