Inter-Firm Technological Cooperation Effects of Absorptive Capacity, Firm-Size and Specialization

Frederico Rocha
Additional contact information
Frederico Rocha: Universidade Federal Fluminense

No 1997-07, UNU-INTECH Discussion Paper Series from United Nations University - INTECH

Abstract: This paper aims to add evidence on the role played by firms' technological competencies in the determination of their intensity of cooperation with other firms. Using a database composed by patents jointly filed by two or more firms in the European Patent Office, the paper: (i) finds no support for the hypothesis that in order for firms to increase their rate of cooperation they should expand their R&D expenditures; (ii) holds that technological cooperation is explained by the need of the firm to acquire complementary competencies; (iii) concludes that cooperation is an alternative technological strategy for those firms that have adopted lean production to overcome obstacles posed by the cross-fertilization of technological fields; (iv) shows that Japanese firms have a higher level of cooperation than Western ones. This latter feature may be explained by the Japanese firm's greater level of productive specialization.

Keywords: Industrial Cooperation; Technology Transfer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/discussion-papers/9707.pdf (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 404 Not Found (https://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/discussion-papers/9707.pdf [301 Moved Permanently]--> https://unu.edu/merit-domain-redirect/publications/discussion-papers/9707.pdf)

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:unm:unuint:199707

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in UNU-INTECH Discussion Paper Series from United Nations University - INTECH Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ad Notten ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).