Purpose – This paper aims to focus on formation motivations and processes of R&D consortia to appreciate their differential innovative and learning capabilities. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents its argument in two separate steps. First, a two‐by‐two framework, comprising...

Purpose – Further understanding of structural hierarchy is critically needed to assess the usefulness of different alliance structures. This study goes beyond transaction cost reasoning and incorporates social exchange theoretic perspective with the aim of capturing the concurrent...