We develop a model of industry evolution in which firms choose proprietary standards (closed firm) or adopt a common standard (open firm). A closed entrant can capture multiple profits whereas an open entrant faces lower entry barriers: The odds of closed entry (relative to open entry) decrease...

In biotechnology, large firms enter into different kinds of linkages with universities and small/medium sized research-intensive firms. The authors test the hypothesis that the strategies of external linkage of the large firms with other parties are complementary to one another. They show that...