Maryam Hajialibeigi, M.Sc. (Chair for Economic Theory), conceptualizes a new search mode named search diversity by distinguishing between diversifying and expanding search domain for external knowledge in "Is more diverse always the better? External knowledge source clusters and innovation performance in Germany". By proposing a prerequisite clustering routine among external sources based on similarities in their knowledge supply and their distance in enterprises’ business models, she first analyzes the associations of different knowledge clusters with innovation performance of different German industries, she then considers the proposed clustering as an underlying basis for introducing two novel diversity indexes in firm and industry levels which she develops to quantify the new search strategy. In a further step by empirically comparing the associations of the proposed search strategy and that of search breadth (a conventional search mode) with innovation performance of different German industries, she proposes a hybrid search strategy for capturing external knowledge which provides innovation practitioners with contributive insights. The article has now been published in "The Journal of Economics of Innovation and New Technology".
