In this paper we test the relation between cognitive distance and innovation performance of firms engaged in technology-based alliances. The key finding is that the hypothesis of an inverted U-shaped effect of cognitive distance on innovation performance of firms is confirmed. Moreover, as...

Alliance formation is commonplace in many high-technology industries experiencing radical technological change, where established firms use alliances with new entrants to adapt to technological change, while new entrants benefit from the ability of established players to commercialize the new...

The rise of the network as a form of economic organization renders problematic our standard understanding of how capitalism is governed. As the governance of production shifts from vertical integration to horizontal contract, a puzzle arises: how do contracts, presumed to be susceptible to...

This paper gives a survey of insights into inter-firm alliances and networks for innovation, from a constructivist, interactionist perspective on knowledge, which leads to the notion of 'cognitive distance'. It looks at both the competence and the governance side of relationships. Given...

We argue that incumbents may be in a position to adapt to radical technological change via interfirm cooperation with new entrants when the incumbents have complementary assets within their firm boundaries that are critical to commercializing the new technology. We study 889 strategic alliances...

A persistent theme in the academic literature on technological innovation is that incumbent enterprises have great difficulty crossing the abyss created by a radical technological innovation. It is argued that incumbents go into decline, while new entrants rise to market dominance by exploiting...

International technology transfer plays a critical role in global welfare and economic growth. Conventional wisdom holds that strong intellectual property rights—primarily patents—promote the transfer of technologies between countries. An important counternarrative, however, contends that...

One of the important characteristics of Web2.0 is the collaboration between Web2.0 service providers. They allow users (i.e., providers, developers, consumers) to combine their services. The prerequisite for this collaboration is openness of the Web2.0 service system. Although the Web2.0...

We use a simple model of collaborative innovation to structure an empirical analysis of minority equity links in biotechnology alliances between clients and R&D firms. In the model, an equity link is an investment in information acquisition: it improves the ability of the client to learn about...