Abstract
This chapter contribution to the edited volume addresses cooperative research centers with formal arrangements for accommodating external memberships. The authors James C. Hayton, Saloua Sehili, and Vida Scarpello refer to these as “consortial research centers” and the purpose of their study was to test 10 hypotheses for why firms join research centers that are consortial in nature. Although traditional analysis of why firms form collaborative research arrangements have tended to focus upon firm level variables, this study takes a broader view on antecedent factors. The authors derive hypotheses from resource dependence theory, market forces theory, and strategic behavior model explanations for such firm behavior. Panel data from 503 firms, in 104 industries from 1978 through 1996 were used to test the hypotheses. The decision to join a consortial research center was modeled using multivariate binomial probit analysis. Results showed that industry competitiveness, technological opportunities and the production of complementary innovations are all positively related to propensity to join a center. Slack resources are related to joining propensity in a non-linear fashion. For a complementary examination, see the chapter contribution by Drew Rivers and Denis O. Gray on the marketing tactics of center managers to retain and elicit industry partnerships.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Where they do occur, the differences between research centers and consortia are a matter of degree rather than a clear distinction. These differences include the extent of contribution of resources, influence over the focus or projects conducted by the organization (consortium or center), and extent to which members have ownership rights over products. Since these differences involve only the potential for greater contribution, influence and ownership, it is quite possible for entities referred to as consortia to have characteristics that are consistent with research centers and research centers that have characteristics consistent with R&D consortia. Perhaps the most famous example of research centers that are consortial in nature are those formed under the Industry-University Cooperative Research Center program established by the National Science Foundation. Members of such research centers may contribute resources beyond membership fees, including personnel and equipment, and may influence the research programs of the center.
- 2.
It has not been determined that the NCRA actually elicited more firms to engage in cooperative R&D. The number of firms filing has not been especially large (Katz and Ordover 1990), and R&D executives did not regard the act as an important determinant to their decision to cooperate (Link and Bauer 1989).
References
Aldrich H, Sasaki T (1995) R&D consortia in the United States and Japan. Res Policy 24(2): 301–316
Baker T, Nelson RE (2005) Creating something from nothing: resource construction through entrepreneurial bricolage. Adm Sci Q 50(3):329–366
Barringer BR, Harrison JH (2000) Walking a tightrope: creating value through interorganizational relationships. J Manage 26(3):367–403
Baumol W (1993) The mechanisms of technology transfer, II: technology consortia in complementary innovations. In: Baumol W (ed) Entrepreneurship, management, and the structure of payoffs. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp 193–222
Bolton MK (1993) Organizational innovation and substandard performance: when is necessity the mother of innovation? Organ Sci 4(1):57–74
Boyle SE (1968) Estimate of the number and size distribution of domestic joint subsidiaries. Antitrust Law Econ Rev 1:81–92
Bromiley P (1991) Testing a causal model of corporate risk taking and performance. Acad Manage J 34:37–59
Carney MG (1987) The strategy and structure of collective action. Organ Stud 8(4):341–362
Child J, Faulkner D (1998) Strategies of cooperation: managing alliances, networks and joint ventures. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England
Contractor FJ, Lorange P (1988a) Cooperative strategies in international business. Lexington Books, Lexington, MA
Contractor FJ, Lorange P (1988b) Competition vs cooperation: a benefit/cost framework for choosing between fully-owned investments and cooperative relationships. Manage Int Rev 28(Special issue):5–18
Doz Y, Olk P, Ring PS (2000) Formation processes of R&D consortia. Which path to take? Where does it lead? Strateg Manage J 20(3):239–266
Dyer JH, Singh H (1998) The relational view: cooperative strategy and sources of interorganizational competitive advantage. Acad Manage Rev 23:660–679
Evan WM, Olk P (1990) R&D consortia: a new U.S. organizational form. Sloan Manage Rev 31(3):37–46
Fausfeld HI, Haklisch CS (1985) Cooperative R&D for competitors. Harv Bus Rev 63:60–76
Geisler E (1995) Industry-university technology cooperation: a theory of interorganizational relationships. Technol Anal Strateg Manage 7(2):217–229
George G (2005) Slack resources and the performance of privately held firms. Acad Manage J 48(4):661–676
Gibson D, Rogers E (1988) The MCC comes to Texas. In: Williams F (ed) Measuring the information society. Sage, Beverly Hills, CA, pp 91–115
Gomes-Casseres B, Hagedoorn J, Jaffe AB (2006) Do alliances promote knowledge flows? J Financ Econ 80(1):5–33
Greve H (2003) Organizational learning from performance feedback: a behavioral perspective on innovation and change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England
Gulati R (1999) Network location and learning: the influence of network resources and firm capabilities on alliance formation. Strateg Manage J 20(5):397–420
Hagedoorn J (1993) Understanding the rationale of strategic technology partnering: interorganizational modes of cooperation and sectoral differences. Strateg Manage J 14:371–385
Hagedoorn J (2002) Inter-firm R&D partnerships: an overview of major trends and patterns since 1960. Res Policy 31(4):477–492
Hagedoorn J (2006) Understanding the cross-level embeddedness of interfirm partnership formation. Acad Manage Rev 31(3):670–680
Hagedoorn J, Schakenraad J (1994) The effect of strategic technology alliances on company performance. Strateg Manage J 15(4):291–309
Hamel G (1991) Competition for competence and inter-partner learning within international strategic alliances. Strateg Manage J 12(Summer):83–103
Harbison JR, Pekar P (1998) Smart alliances. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA
Harrigan KR (1985) Strategies for joint ventures. Lexington Books, Lexington, MA
Hecker SS (1988) Commercializing technology at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In G.R. Bopp (Ed.), Federal Lab Technology Transfer: Issues and Policies (pp. 25–37). New York, NY: Praeger Publishers Hill WL, Snell SA (1988) External control, corporate strategy, and firm performance in research-intensive industries. Strateg Manage J 9:577–590
Kale P, Dyer JH, Singh H (2002) Alliance capability, stock market response, and long-term alliance success: the role of the alliance function. Strateg Manage J 23(8):747–767
Katz ML, Ordover JA (1990) R&D cooperation and competition. Brookings Pap Microecon 137–203
Klevorick AK, Levin RC, Nelson RR, Winter SG (1995) On the sources and significance of interindustry differences in technological opportunities. Res Policy 24:185–205
Kodama F (1992) Technology fusion and the new R&D. Harv Bus Rev July–August:70–78
Kogut B (1988) Joint ventures: theoretical and empirical perspectives. Strateg Manage J 9: 319–332
Kotabe M, Swan S (1995) The role of strategic alliances in high-technology new product development. Strateg Manage J 16:621–636 Kozmetsky G (1988) Commercializing technologies: the next steps. In G.R. Bopp (Ed.), Federal Lab Technology Transfer: Issues and Policies (pp. 171–182). New York, NY: Praeger Publishers Kozmetsky G (1989). Tomorrow’s transformational managers. In K.D. Walters (Ed.), Entrepreneurial Management: New Technology and New Market Development (pp. 171–176). Boston, MA: Ballinger Leiborvitz M (1990) U.S. consortia: how do they measure up?. Electron. Bus., 46–51
Levin RC, Klevorick AK, Nelson RR, Winter SG (1987) Appropriating the returns from industrial research and development. Brookings Pap Econ Act 3:783–820
Link AN, Bauer LL (1989) Cooperative Research in US Manufacturing: Assessing Policy Initiatives and Corporate Strategies. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books Lorange P, Roos J, Cimcic Bronn P (1992) Building successful strategic alliances. Long Range Plann 25(6):10–17
Mitchell W, Singh K (1996) Survival of businesses using collaborative relationships to commercialize complex goods. Strateg Manage J 17:169–195
Oliver C (1990) Determinants of interorganizational relationships: integration and future directions. Acad Manage Rev 15(2):241–265
Osborn RN, Hagedoorn J (1997) The institutionalization and evolutionary dynamics of interorganizational alliances and networks. Acad Manage J 40(2):261–278
Ouchi WG, Bolton MK (1988) The logic of joint R&D. Calif Manage Rev 30:9–33
Pfeffer J, Salancik GR (1978) The external control of organizations: a resource dependence perspective. Harper & Row, New York
Roessner D, Bean A (1994) Patterns of industry interaction with federal laboratories. Technology Transfer, 19(4):59–77
Sakakibara M (2002) Formation of R&D consortia: industry and company effects. Strateg Manage J 23:1033–1050
Sarkar MB, Echambi RAJ, Harrison JS (2001) Alliance entrepreneurship and firm market performance. Strateg Manage J 22(6–7):701–711
Schumpeter JA (1911) The theory of economic development. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA (English translation, 1936)
Shan W (1990) An empirical analysis of organizational strategies by entrepreneurial high-technology firms. Strateg Manage J 11:129–139
Shan W, Visudtibhan K (1990) Cooperative strategy in commercializing an emerging technology. Eur J Oper Res 47:172–181
Soni PK, Lilien GL, Wilson DT (1993) Industrial innovation and firm performance: a re-conceptualization and exploratory structural equation analysis. Int J Res Mark 10:365–380
Sternberg E (1992) Photonic technology and industrial policy: U.S. responses to technological change. Albany: State University of New York Press Tripsas M, Schrader S, Sobrero M (1995) Discouraging opportunistic behavior in collaborative R&D: a new role for government. Res Policy 24:367–389
Varadarajan P (1986) Product diversity and firm performance: an empirical investigation. J Mark 50:43–57
Vonortas NS (1997) Cooperation in research and development. Kluwer Academic, Boston, MA
Acknowledgement
This study was supported in part by funding from the National Science Foundation (Grant # EEC-9712481). The authors would like to thank Shaker Zahra and Paul Olk for their comments and ideas in regard to this research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hayton, J.C., Sehili, S., Scarpello, V. (2013). Why Do Firms Join Cooperative Research Centers? An Empirical Examination of Firm, Industry, and Environmental Antecedents. In: Boardman, C., Gray, D., Rivers, D. (eds) Cooperative Research Centers and Technical Innovation. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4388-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4388-9_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-4387-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-4388-9
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsEconomics and Finance (R0)