Complementarity in R&D Cooperation Strategies

Abstract

This paper assesses the performance effects of simultaneous engagement in R&D cooperation with different partners (competitors, clients, suppliers, and universities & research institutes). We test whether these different types of R&D cooperation are complements in improving productivity. The results suggest that the joint adoption of cooperation strategies could be either beneficial or detrimental to firm performance, depending on the specific combination of strategies and firm size. Customer cooperation helps to increase market acceptance and diffusion of product innovations and so enhances the impact of competitor and university cooperation. On the other hand, smaller firms in particular also face diseconomies in pursuing multiple R&D cooperation strategies, which may stem from higher costs and complexity of simultaneously managing multiple partnerships with different innovation objectives.

Keywords: Innovation, productivity, R&D cooperation

JEL Classification: O31, O32