The initiation and evolution of interfirm knowledge transfer in R&D relationships.

Knowledge; Knowledge transfer; R&D;

The role of inter-organizational collaboration within innovation strategies: towards a portfolio approach.

Within the innovation literature, inter-organizational collaboration is being advanced as instrumental for improving the innovative performance of firms. In addition inter-organizational collaboration can be instrumental for addressing the multiple requirements innovation strategies entail. At the same time - large scale - empirical evidence for such a relation is scarce. Within this paper we examine whether evidence can be found for the idea that inter-organizational collaboration supports the effectiveness of innovation strategies. Multivariate and Tobit analyses of data on Belgian manufacturing firms, collected by means of the CIS survey (n=221), reveals a positive relationship between inter-organizational collaboration and innovative performance. Moreover the findings reported here suggest the relevancy of adopting a portfolio approach towards inter-organizational collaboration.Data; Effectiveness; Firms; Innovation; Innovation strategy; Manufacturing; Performance; Portfolio; Requirements; Strategy; Time;

Transferring and creating technological knowledge in interfirm R&D relationships: The initiation and evolution of interfirm learning.

In this study, we examine the initiation and evolution of interfirm learning in interfirm R&D relationships. Based on in-depth case studies, we suggest that the process of learning in interfirm R&D relationships consists of different challenges: 1) initiating technological knowledge transfer, 2) continuing technological knowledge transfer, and 3) moving towards the joint creation of new technological knowledge. Our findings identify conditions needed to initiate knowledge transfer: the presence of legal knowledge transfer clauses, overlapping skills and equipment, fragile trust and organizational similarity. The continuance of knowledge exchange implies complementary modes of collaborating characterized by sharing technologies which are oriented towards different applications. Joint knowledge creation implies convergence on the level of applications which only becomes feasible when prior knowledge exchange processes have generated resilient levels of trust. These observations point to the relevance of conceiving and organizing interfirm R&D relationships in a timephased, differentiated manner.Applications; Case studies; Convergence; Exchange; Interfirm learning; Interfirm R&D; Knowledge; Knowledge creation; Knowledge transfer; Learning; Processes; R&D; Similarity; Studies; Technology; Trust;

Contractual Alliance Governance: Impact of Different Contract Functions on Alliance Performance

Recent research on alliance governance has emphasized that contracts can have both a control and coordination function. In this paper, we test the impact of these different contract functions on alliance performance. Conducting structural equation analyses on a sample of 270 Dutch technology alliances, we disentangle the relationship between different contract functions, partner cooperation and alliance success. Our data show that different contract roles have a different impact on partner cooperation within the alliance. In addition, we find strong indications that the presence/absence of prior trustful collaboration and the number of alliance partners moderate the relationship between contract functions and partner cooperation. Finally, our data provide evidence that contract functions indirectly influence alliance success via partner cooperation

Organizing explorative innovation within and between firms

To stay competitive in the long term, companies not only need to exploit their existing knowledge, they also need to explore new knowledge. At the same time, combining exploitative and explorative innovation is challenging because it triggers tensions at the individual, project and organizational level. In this paper, I provide an overview of the most important intra- and inter-organizational strategies to successfully combine exploitative and explorative innovation. First, I point out the importance of structural and contextual ambidexterity for organizing explorative innovation within firms. Subsequently, I discuss the possibilities for exploitative and explorative innovation between firms. Finally, I discuss the main implications of these insights for researchers, managers and policy makers

Technological activities and their impact on the financial performance of the firm: Exploitation and exploration within and between firms.

This article analyzes the financial performance consequences of technology strategies categorized along two dimensions: (1) explorative versus exploitative and (2) solitary versus collaborative. The financial performance implications of firms’ positioning along these two dimensions has important managerial implications, but has received only limited attention in prior studies. Drawing on organizational learning theory and technology alliances literature, a set of hypotheses on the performance implications of firms’ technology strategies are derived. These hypotheses are tested empirically on a panel dataset (1996-2003) of 168 R&D-intensive firms based in Japan, the US and Europe and situated in five different industries (chemicals, pharmaceuticals, ICT, electronics, non-electrical machinery). Patent data are used to construct indicators of explorative versus exploitative technological activities (activities in new or existing technology domains) and collaborative versus solitary technological activities (joint versus single patent ownership). The financial performance of firms is measured via a market value indicator: Tobin’s Q index. The analyses confirm the existence of an inverted U-shape relationship between the share of explorative technological activities and financial performance. In addition, it is observed that most sample firms do not reach the optimal level of explorative technological activities. These findings point to the relevance of creating a balance between exploitation and exploration in the context of technological activities. Moreover, they suggest that, for the majority of R&D intensive firms, reaching such a balance between exploration and exploitation implies investing additional efforts and resources in exploring new knowledge domains. The analyses also show that firms, engaging more intensively in collaboration, perform relatively stronger in explorative activities. At the same time, a negative relationship between the share of collaborative technological activities and a firm’s market value is observed. Contrary to our expectations, it is collaboration in explorative technological activities, rather than collaboration in exploitative technological activities, that leads to a reduction in firm value. These findings question the relevance of open business models for technological activities. In particular, they suggest that the potential advantages of collaboration for (explorative) technological activities (i.e. access to complementary knowledge from other partners, sharing of technological costs and risks) might not compensate for the potential disadvantages, such as the incurred increase in coordination costs and the need to share innovation rewards across innovation partners.

Technological activities and their impact on the financial performance of the firm: Exploitation and exploration within and between firms

This paper analyzes the consequences for financial performance of technology strategies categorized along two dimensions: (1) explorative versus exploitative and (2) solitary versus collaborative. The financial performance implications of firms’ positioning along these two dimensions has important managerial implications, but has received only limited attention in prior studies. Drawing on organizational learning theory and technology alliances literature, a set of hypotheses on the performance implications of firms’ technology strategies are derived. These hypotheses are tested empirically on a panel dataset (1996-2003) of 168 R&D-intensive firms based in Japan, the US and Europe and situated in five different industries (chemicals, pharmaceuticals, ICT, electronics, non-electrical machinery). Patent data are used to construct indicators of explorative versus exploitative technological activities (activities in new or existing technology domains) and collaborative versus solitary technological activities (joint versus single patent ownership). The financial performance of firms is measured via a market value indicator: Tobin’s Q index.Innovation, Tobin’s q, R&D collaboration, exploration & exploitation

Explorative R&D collaboration: Searching for effective and efficient governance mechanisms.

Explorative R&D collaboration is an important alternative for the internal development of new technologies. The high failure rate of this type of inter-organizational collaboration, however, indicates that governing explorative R&D collaboration is not a straightforward task. Moreover, we argue that different theoretical perspectives have formulated contradictory advice of how to govern explorative R&D collaboration. Given high risks of opportunistic behavior and high coordination costs within explorative R&D collaboration, Transaction Cost Economics and Organization Theory emphasize the need for formal governance mechanisms. The innovation literature, however, stresses that formal governance mechanisms prohibit the carrying out of explorative activities which are necessary to develop new technologies. We also suggest two alternatives to address these paradoxical requirements. In specific, we argue that effective and efficient governance of explorative R&D collaboration can be achieved by 1) collecting second-hand information about potential partners, allowing for the substitution of formal governance by relational governance, and 2) combining formal and relational governance mechanisms. Based on these theoretical findings, we emphasize the importance of longitudinal, multi-level research to study the characteristics and dynamics of different governance mechanisms within inter-organizational collaboration.Behavior; Characteristics; Coordination; Cost; Costs; Dynamics; Economics; Governance; Information; Innovation; Organization theory; R&D; Requirements; Research; Risk; Studies; Substitution; Technology; Theory; Transaction cost;

Ties that matter:The impact of alliance partner knowledge recombination novelty on knowledge utilization in R&D alliances

Whereas extant alliance research tends to consider the knowledge pool of partner firms as a set of independent components, we highlight that alliance partners' components are interconnected. In particular, we introduce the concept of alliance partner knowledge recombination novelty - i.e., the extent to which an alliance partner has created component ties that no other firm within the industry has created - and hypothesize that it has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the focal firm's utilization of the alliance partner's knowledge. We also expect this relationship to be moderated by the focal firm's own knowledge recombination novelty. Analyzing 313 R&D alliance dyads of 70 firms in the fuel cell industry, we find support for the hypothesized inverted U-shaped relationship between an alliance partner's knowledge recombination novelty and the focal firm's knowledge utilization from the alliance partner. However, we do not find support for a moderation effect of the focal firm's knowledge recombination novelty. Based on these findings, we demonstrate the importance of framing alliance partner knowledge pools as sets of interconnected components, where alliance partners' history of knowledge recombination shapes the focal firm's knowledge utilization rates