Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The determinants of successful R&D consortia: government strategy for the servitization of manufacturing

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Service Business Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Taiwanese government has started to promote the concept of the “servitization of manufacturing” with a view to accelerating the servitization of the country’s manufacturing industries. The objective is to enable Taiwan’s industries to progress from manufacturing toward innovation, R&D, and services. The main purpose of this study is to explore the factors determining the formation of R&D consortia among Taiwanese firms. In a literature review and analysis, we distinguish the factors underlying the formation of these R&D consortia into internal and external factors. The findings show that four external factors are positively significant: the degree of industry competition, the appropriability conditions of innovations, government subsidies, and cooperation between firms in different industries. Firm size and firm age are among the internal factors that are significantly positive in the formation of R&D consortia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allison PD (1984) Event history analysis: regression for longitudinal event data. SAGE, Beverly Hills

    Google Scholar 

  • Anand BN, Khanna T (2000) Do firms learn to create value? The case of alliances. Strateg Manag J 21(3):295–316

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baum JAC, Oliver C (1991) Institutional linkages and organizational mortality. Adm Sci Q 36(2):2187–2218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baum JAC, Calabrese T, Silverman BS (2000) Don’t go it alone: alliance network composition and startups’ performance in Canadian biotechnology. Strateg Manag J 21(3):267–294

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Branstetter L, Sakakibara M (2002) When do research consortia work well and why? Evidence from Japanese panel data. Am Econ Rev 92(1):143–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen H, Chen TJ (2002) Asymmetric strategic alliance: a network view. J Bus Res 55(12):1007–1013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen WM, Nelson RR, Walsh JP (2000) Protecting their intellectual assets: appropriability conditions and why U.S. manufacturing firms patent (or Not). Working Paper, National Bureau of Economic Research

  • Cohen WM, Goto A, Nagata A, Nelson RR, Walsh JP (2002) R&D spillovers, patents and the incentives to innovate in Japan and the United States. Res Policy 31(8–9):1349–1367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cox DR (1972) Regression models and life-tables. J Roy Stat Soc B 34(2):187–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenhardt KM, Schoonhoven CB (1996) Resource-based view of strategic alliance formation: strategic and social effects in entrepreneurial firms. Organ Sci 7(2):136–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fukugawa N (2006) Determining factors in innovation of small firm networks: a case of cross industry groups in Japan. Small Bus Econ 27(2–3):181–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hagedoorn J (1996) Trends and patterns in strategic technology partnering since the early seventies. Rev Ind Organ 11(5):601–616

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamel G (1991) Competition for competence and interpartner learning within international strategic alliances. Strateg Manag J 12(1):83–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsu CW, Chiang HC (2001) The government strategy for the upgrading of industrial technology in Taiwan. Technovation 21(2):123–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsu FM, Hsueh CC (2009) Measuring relative efficiency of government-sponsored R&D projects: a three-stage approach. Eval Program Plann 32(2):178–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu MW, Chi S (1998) The changing competitiveness of Taiwan’s manufacturing SMEs. Small Bus Econ 11(4):315–326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huarng CC, Chu PY, Chiang YU (2008) A fuzzy AHP application in government-sponsored R&D project selection. Omega 36(6):1038–1052

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jan TS, Chen Y (2006) The R&D system for industrial development in Taiwan. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 73(5):559–574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kale P, Dyer JH, Singh H (2002) Alliance capability, stock market response, and long-term alliance success: the role of the alliance function. Strateg Manag J 23(8):747–767

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy A, Keeney K (2009) Strategic partnerships and the internationalisation process of software SMEs. Serv Bus 3(3):259–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kogut B, Shan W, Walker G (1992) The make-or-cooperate decision in the context of an industry network. In: Norhria N, Eccls R (eds) Networks and organizations: structure, form, and action. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, pp 348–365

    Google Scholar 

  • Levitt B, March JG (1988) Organizational learning. Annu Rev Sociol 14(3):319–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin FJ (2010) The determinants of foreign direct investment in China: the case of Taiwanese firms in the IT industry. J Bus Res 63(5):479–485

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • López-Sánchez JI, Arroyo-Barrigüete JL, Ribeiro D (2008) Development of a technological competition model in the presence of network effects from the modified law of Metcalfe. Serv Bus 2(2):83–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyles MA (1988) Learning among joint venture sophisticated firms. Manage Int Rev 28(4):85–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathews JA (2002) The origins and dynamics of Taiwan’s R&D consortia. Res Policy 31(4):633–651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miotti L, Sachwald F (2003) Co-operative R&D: why and with whom? An integrated framework of analysis. Res Policy 32(8):1481–1499

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell W, Singh K (1992) Incumbents’ use of pre-entry alliances before expansion into new technical subfields of an industry. J Econ Behav Organ 18(3):347–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okamuro H (2007) Determinants of successful R&D cooperation in Japanese small businesses: the impact of organizational and contractual characteristics. Res Policy 36(10):1529–1544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reed R, Storrud-Barnes SF (2009) Systematic performance differences across the manufacturing-service continuum. Serv Bus 3(4):319–339

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sakakibara M (2002) Formation of R&D consortia: industry and company effects. Strateg Manag J 23(11):1033–1050

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shan W (1990) An empirical analysis of organizational strategies by entrepreneurial high-technology firms. Strateg Manag J 11(2):129–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sher PJ, Yang PY (2005) The effects of innovative capabilities and R&D clustering on firm performance: the evidence of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. Technovation 25(1):33–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simonin BL (1997) The importance of collaborative know-how: an empirical test of the learning organization. Acad Manag J 40(5):1150–1174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh K (1997) The impact of technological complexity and interfirm cooperation on business survival. Acad Manag J 40(2):339–367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spence M (1984) Cost reduction, competition, and industry performance. Econometrica 52(1):101–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuma NB, Hannan MT (1984) Social dynamics: models and methods. Academic Press, Orlando

    Google Scholar 

  • Un AC, Romero-Martínez AM, Montoro-Sánchez A (2009) Determinants of R&D collaboration of service firms. Serv Bus 3(4):373–394

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Feng-Jyh Lin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lin, FJ., Lin, YH. The determinants of successful R&D consortia: government strategy for the servitization of manufacturing. Serv Bus 6, 489–502 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-012-0157-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-012-0157-7

Keywords

Navigation