Persistence of, and interrelation between, horizontal and vertical technology alliances.

The authors explore to what extent there is persistence in, and interrelation between, alliance strategies with different partner types (customers, suppliers, competitors). In a panel data set of innovation-active firms in the Netherlands from 1996 to 2004, the authors find persistence in alliance strategies with all three types of partners, but customer alliance strategies are more persistent than supplier alliance strategies and competitor alliance strategies. A positive interrelation between customer and supplier alliance strategies and a high persistence of joint supplier and customer alliance strategies are consistent with the advantages of value chain integration in innovation efforts. Prior engagement in horizontal (competitor) alliances increases the propensity to engage in vertical alliance strategies, but this effect occurs only with a longer lag. Overall, the authors’ findings suggest that alliance strategies with different partner types are both heterogeneous in persistence and (temporally) interrelated. This suggests that intertemporal relationships between different types of alliances may be as important as their simultaneous relationship in alliance portfolios.

Persistence of and interrelation between horizontal and vertical technology alliances

We examine how and to what extent the propensity to be engaged in alliances with different partner types (suppliers, customers and competitors) depends on prior alliance engagement with partner firms of the same type (persistence) and prior engagement in alliances with the other partner types (interrelation). We derive hypotheses from a combined competence and governance view of collaboration, and test these on an extensive panel dataset of innovation-active Dutch firms during 1996-2004. We find persistence in alliance engagement of all three types of partners, but customer alliances are more persistent than supplier alliances. Most persistent are joint supplier and customer alliances, which we attribute to the advantages of value chain integration in innovation processes. Positive interrelation also exists in vertical alliances, as immediate past customer alliances increase the propensity to engage in supplier alliances and vice versa. On the other hand, while prior engagement in horizontal (competitor) alliances increases the propensity to engage in vertical alliances, this effect only occurs with a longer lag. Overall, our findings are highly supportive of the idea that alliance engagement with different partner types is heterogeneous but interrelated. Our analysis suggests that the inter-temporal relationship between different types of alliances may be as important as their simultaneous relationship in alliance portfolios.R&D collaboration, technological partnerships, innovation, path dependency

ACCESS: An Inception Report

Imagine a world in which all groups of citizens coming together to realize some public benefit measure and communicate the character and consequences of their work. Imagine further that all those groups have adopted a common reporting system that enables their individual reports to be compared, thus creating powerful descriptions of the relative and collective performance of citizen association for public benefit. Imagine, too, that this common measuring and reporting carries across to all forms of public-private partnership and corporate social responsibility. This is the world envisioned by ACCESS.For the past 18 months a growing number of concerned actors have been meeting, studying, and testing opinion around one of the great structural weaknesses in the world's institutional infrastructure -- inefficient and weak social investment markets. This inception report sets out the results of this enquiry in the form of a proposal to establish a reporting standard for nonprofit organizations seeking to produce social, environmental and, increasingly, financial returns. The ACCESS Reporting standard is one important contribution to redressing a major global system weakness, but it is certainly not the only one. Nor is it one that can operate in isolation from other initiatives. Accordingly, the ACCESS proposed plan of work involves convening a global dialogue on NGO transparency, accountability and performance with the objective of promoting ACCESS and other practical solutions to the challenges of social investment and civil society accountability.This report sets out the background and rationale for these proposals. You will meet the ACCESS sponsors and pilot project partners. Parts of the report are descriptive and analytical but other parts are necessarily theoretical and technical in nature. We make no apology for this. Part of the reason that in 2003 the world does not yet have a reporting standard for social actors is that the theory and technique have not been mastered. For those with a strong orientation toward strategy and action, however, these aspects are presented as well

Essays on knowledge sourcing and technological capability:A knowledge structure perspective

In today’s increasingly competitive and rapidly changing markets that depend heavily on innovation, firms are increasingly opt to use external knowledge sourcing strategies to complement their internal efforts in developing technological capabilities. While external knowledge sourcing strategy can bring substantial opportunities for new knowledge generation, it imposes huge challenges to the firms for successful integration of external knowledge, making appropriate execution of external knowledge sourcing strategies crucial. However, the literature and empirical evidence has not yet been able to offer a conclusive indication of what drives the performance variations of different firms in developing technological capabilities from sourcing knowledge externally. To address this under-explored question, this dissertation presents three empirical studies that examine the antecedents of the performance variations in developing technological capabilities through sourcing knowledge externally. By looking at firms’ external knowledge sourcing strategies in the three modes of governance with different levels of hierarchy (i.e. licensing, alliances, and acquisitions), the findings of this dissertation aim to improve our understanding of how external knowledge sourcing strategies can be better managed to develop technological capabilities

Impact Investing: a primer for family offices

The goal of this report is to help family offices ask the right questions as they contemplate their path into impact investing. It is important to recognize that impact investing may not suit all investors. There will be family offices which conclude impact investing is not appropriate at this stage for them. While we are passionate about the potential of impact investing, we acknowledge the best future for the sector is where each investor can make informed choices about their own best interest. Each investor and investment institution needs to evaluate if impact investing fits with its needs, interests and unique context. It is with that in mind that we offer this report as a resource and tool that family offices can use to begin the conversations internally, to craft and design their own engagement strategy on impact investing with family members, advisers and potential investees, as well as to ensure that not only is their wealth growing in value, but also that their wealth can reflect their values

Can alliance networks work? : examining the evolution & impacts of alliance portfolios in healthcare

As the global competitive environment becomes increasingly complex and volatile, organisations look to networks to complement skills, resources, agility and capabilities. This research program aims to achieve a better understanding in the role of alliance portfolios in the development of dynamic capabilities of innovation and commercialisation. Through a case study approach examining the network of The Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences, this research program uses a grounded-theory methodology to construct a conceptual framework, which is generalised to other healthcare firms’, alliance portfolios and potentially to other industries. The central assertion of this research program is that within complex and high-velocity environments, the character of a firms’ alliance portfolio facilitates the extent to which dynamic capabilities are created that result in new market opportunities, ultimately leading to competitive advantage. The results suggest that alliance portfolios develop dynamic capabilities (specifically, innovation and commercialisation) when comprised of individual alliance relationships that establish variables of trust; strategic fit of resources and vision; secure partners that operate within the same industrial sphere and/or core business as the hub-firm; and a personal commitment to the alliance. Further, those individual alliance relationships that experience variables including lofty expectations; fuzzy decision making processes; lack/loss of strategic focus; differences in corporate cultures; and poor transference/application of dynamic capabilities across different industries were unsuccessful in the development of dynamic capabilities. Initial results also suggest that the cumulative experience of the dedicated alliance function (Kale, Dyer, and Singh; 2002), and the resulting dynamic capabilities established therein, have the ability to transition (Arndt, 2008) to the alliance portfolio (Wassmer, 2010). The alliance portfolio not only acts as an egocentric catchment of an organisation’s respective alliances (Baum, 2000), but can also acts as a cumulative set of dynamic capabilities, resources, and opportunities

Absorptive capacity and ambidexterity in R&D : linking technology alliance diversity and firm innovation

The aim of this study is to examine how firms realize the benefits associated with a diverse range of technology alliances. We propose and test the hypothesis that firms’ knowledge combination capabilities mediate the relationship between technology alliance diversity innovation. Using panel data for Spanish manufacturing companies during the period 2004-2011, we provide evidence that firms’ absorptive capacity and ambidexterity in R&D serve as mediating mechanisms between technology alliance diversity and innovative performance Our study advances the literature on technology alliances by showing how firms use their portfolios of technology alliances to form their combination capabilities, and subsequently, to enhance innovation outcomes

Empirical Tests Of Optimal Cognitive Distance

This article provides empirical tests of the hypothesis of ‘optimal cognitive distance’, proposed by Nooteboom (1999, 2000), in two distinct empirical settings. Variety of cognition, needed for learning, has two dimensions: the number of agents with different cognition, and differences in cognition between them (cognitive distance). The hypothesis is that in interfirm relationships optimal learning entails a trade-off between the advantage of increased cognitive distance for a higher novelty value of a partner’s knowledge, and the disadvantage of less mutual understanding. If the value of learning is the mathematical product of novelty value and understandability, it has an inverse-U shaped relation with cognitive distance, with an optimum level that yields maximal value of learning. With auxiliary hypotheses, the hypothesis is tested on interfirm agreements between pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies, as well as on interfirm agreements in ICT industries.innovation;organizational learning;ICT;biotechnology;alliances