On the explanation of horizontal, vertical and cross-sector R&D partnerships – evidence for the German industrial sector

Uschi Backes-Gellner, Frank Maass () and Arndt Werner ()
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Frank Maass: Institut für Mittelstandsforschung Bonn (IfM Bonn), (Institute for Small and Medium Size Enterprises, Bonn)
Arndt Werner: Institut für Mittelstandsforschung Bonn (IfM Bonn), (Institute for Small and Medium Size Enterprises, Bonn)

No 53, Working Papers from University of Zurich, Institute for Strategy and Business Economics (ISU)

Abstract: This paper investigates the determinants of inter-firm cooperation in research and development (R&D). We analyse the impact of structural and firm specific characteristics, market performance, access to resources and managerial techniques on different types of inter-firm R&D cooperation. Based on a survey of 886 enterprises in manufacturing and industry/business-related services located in Germany, we estimate several models with different types of R&D partnerships as a dependent variable to find out which types of enterprises are more or less likely to form or join either type of R&D partnership. The findings suggest that the availability and the quality of a firm’s own R&D resources are common factors driving R&D cooperation in general. Differentiating between cooperation activities in R&D among enterprises on the same production level on the one hand and vertical cooperation between enterprises and suppliers/customers or cross-sector alliances between enterprises and public research institutes on the other hand, we find cooperation type specific determinants of entry. The size of a firm, its location, access to financial resources and network experience seem to be most important.

Keywords: cross-sector alliances, inter-firm cooperation; R&D cooperation; SME (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14 pages
Date: 2005-02, Revised 2005-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-cse, nep-ent and nep-ino
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, March 2005, pages 103-116

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http://repec.business.uzh.ch/RePEc/iso/ISU_WPS/53_ISU_full.pdf Revised version, 2004 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iso:wpaper:0053

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