Abstract
This chapter contribution to the edited volume addresses the importance of the ability of leaders in cooperative research centers to attract and retain industrial firms as members. Drew Rivers and Denis O. Gray recognize that despite centers’ reliance on industry funding, there has been very little work to understand how cooperative research centers market their services to and recruit new industry members. Their study takes a systematic look at the marketing practices of centers in the National Science Foundation Industry-University Cooperative Research Center program. In the absence of a directly relevant literature base, they review the inter-organizational relationship and relationship marketing literatures for help in understanding and interpreting marketing practices in the cooperative research centers context. Based on survey responses from center directors, they argue that cooperative research centers can be characterized as small businesses. Marketing practices tend to be informal and interactive, relying heavily on networking and relationship building to secure new members. More traditional, transaction-oriented marketing practices are less often utilized, though data suggest these practices could enhance marketing and recruiting outcomes. Implications, limitations, and avenues for future research are discussed. For a complementary examination, see the chapter by Hayton and colleagues on determinants of formalized firm memberships in cooperative research centers.
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Notes
- 1.
For instance, both NSF’s Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers and its Engineering Research Centers, consortially organized CRCs, require awardees to secure a certain amount of financial support to maintain their NSF award. The Australian CRC program (see Garrett-Jones and Turpin in this volume) requires all “participants” to contribute resources and the amount of resources demonstrated is one of three factors in making a CRC award. Most state-funded Centers of Excellence Programs have similar requirements.
- 2.
American Marketing Association, http://www.marketingpower.com/_layouts/Dictionary.aspx?dLetter=M (Accessed 17 Feb 2012).
- 3.
ERC Best Practices Manual, http://www.erc-assoc.org/manual/bp_index.htm (Accessed on 17 Feb 2012).
- 4.
Recent data on industry funding of ERCs are difficult to find. Roessner et al. (1998) indicated that industry funding was about equal to the NSF program funding of $50,000,000 across 25 ERCs.
- 5.
Full item texts ordered according to Fig. 8.1: Networking through your own personal contacts; Networking through other site stakeholders (e.g., IAB members, faculty); Presenting at scientific meetings or conferences; Building traffic on your center/site’s website; Sponsoring industry-related events (e.g., seminars); Publishing articles in trade journals or trade websites; Sending out direct mailings with center/site information; Doing PR like news releases and general media coverage; Presenting at tradeshows; Advertising in trade journals or trade websites.
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Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge the support provided by the National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers Program (EEC-0631414) in preparing this paper.
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Rivers, D., Gray, D.O. (2013). Cooperative Research Centers as Small Business: Uncovering the Marketing and Recruiting Practices of University-Based Cooperative Research Centers. 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_8
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