Impact of External Knowledge Acquisition Strategies on Innovation – A Comparative Study Based on Dutch and Swiss Panel Data

KOF Working Paper No. 325

28 Pages Posted: 24 Jan 2013

See all articles by Spyros Arvanitis

Spyros Arvanitis

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF)

Boris Lokshin

Maastricht University, School of Business and Economics

Pierre Mohnen

Maastricht University - UNU-MERIT

Martin Woerter

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF)

Date Written: January 16, 2013

Abstract

There is growing evidence that firms increasingly adopt open innovation practices. In this paper we investigate the impact of two such external knowledge acquisition strategies, ‘buy’ and ‘cooperate’, on firm’s product innovation performance. Taking a direct (productivity) approach, we test for complementarity effects in the simultaneous use of the two strategies, and in the intensity of their use. Our results based on large panels of Dutch and Swiss innovating firms, suggest that while both ‘buy’ and ‘cooperate’ have a positive effect on innovation, there is little statistical evidence that using them simultaneously leads to higher innovation performance. Results from the Dutch sample provide some indication, that there are positive economies of scope in doing external and cooperative R&D simultaneously conditional on doing internal R&D.

Keywords: Open innovation, R&D collaboration, make, buy strategies

JEL Classification: O31, O32

Suggested Citation

Arvanitis, Spyros and Lokshin, Boris and Mohnen, Pierre and Woerter, Martin, Impact of External Knowledge Acquisition Strategies on Innovation – A Comparative Study Based on Dutch and Swiss Panel Data (January 16, 2013). KOF Working Paper No. 325, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2206201 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2206201

Spyros Arvanitis (Contact Author)

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF) ( email )

CH-8092 Zurich
Switzerland
+41 44 632 51 68 (Phone)
+41 44 632 13 52 (Fax)

Boris Lokshin

Maastricht University, School of Business and Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, 6200 MD
Netherlands
+31 43 388 3697 (Phone)
+31 43 325 4893 (Fax)

Pierre Mohnen

Maastricht University - UNU-MERIT ( email )

P.O. Box 616
Maastricht, 6200 MD
Netherlands
31-43-3884464 (Phone)
31-43-3884495 (Fax)

Martin Woerter

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) - Swiss Institute for Business Cycle Research (KOF) ( email )

CH-8092 Zurich
Switzerland

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