Contract research and high-tech alliances: Vistas for future studies

Gjalt de Jong and Rosalinde J.A. Klein Woolthuis

Scandinavian Journal of Management, 2008, vol. 24, issue 3, 284-289

Abstract: This research note addresses the governance structure of innovation processes in high-tech alliances, focusing on the content and role of formal contracts. Contract research is strongly heterogeneous, that is, many different paradigms, concepts, definitions and measures exist. We discuss the most important aspects of contract research and primarily argue that future research needs to pay ample attention to the interpretation of contracts, as the written contract might be just a standard form written by lawyers who are not directly involved in the high-tech alliance. We also propose a wide view of contracts and emphasize that contracts might have different functions depending on the role that the contract plays in the relationship. In so doing, we review the most common research methods, i.e., surveys, meta-studies and longitudinal case studies, and suggest that the latter offer the most promissory opportunities for future alliance contract studies.

Keywords: High-tech; alliances; Organizational; governance; Contract; content; Contract; functions; Trust (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956522108000304
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:scaman:v:24:y:2008:i:3:p:284-289

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/872/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... me/872/bibliographic

Access Statistics for this article

Scandinavian Journal of Management is currently edited by Janne Tienari

More articles in Scandinavian Journal of Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().