Complementarity in R&D cooperation strategies

R.A. Belderbos, M.A. Carree, B. Lokshin*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

143 Citations (Web of Science)

Abstract

This paper assesses the performance effects of simultaneous engagement in r&d cooperation with different partners (competitors, clients, suppliers, and universities and research institutes). We test whether these different types of r&d cooperation are complements in improving productivity. The results suggest that the joint adoption of cooperation strategies could be either beneficial or detrimental to firm performance, depending on firm size and specific strategy combinations. Customer cooperation helps to increase market acceptance and diffusion of product innovations and enhances the impact of competitor and university cooperation. On the other hand, smaller firms also face diseconomies in pursuing multiple r&d cooperation strategies, which may stem from higher costs and complexity of simultaneously managing multiple partnerships with different innovation objectives.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)401-426
JournalReview of Industrial Organization
Volume28
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2006

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