Old technology meets new technology: complementarities, similarities, and alliance formation

Rothaermel, Frank T.; Boeker, Warren

doi:10.1002/smj.634

Cited by 400 publications

(383 citation statements)

References 81 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

351

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This is in line with the findings of existing literature (e.g. Rothaermel & Boeker, 2008). The results from the instrumental variable regressions differ only marginally.…”

Section: --------------------------------------------------Insert Tabsupporting

confidence: 92%

Knowing Me, Knowing You: Inventor Mobility and the Formation of Technology-oriented Alliances

Wagner

Goossen

2018

AMJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. All rights reserved. This document may be distributed for free -electronically or in print -in the same formats as it is available on the website of the ESMT (www.esmt.org) for non-commercial purposes. It is not allowed to produce any derivates of it without the written permission of ESMT. Terms of use: Documents inFind more ESMT working papers at ESMT faculty publications, SSRN, RePEc, and EconStor. We link the hiring of R&D scientists from industry competitors to the subsequent formation of collaborative agreements, namely technology-oriented alliances. By transferring technological knowledge as well as cognitive elements to the hiring firm, mobile inventors foster the alignment of decision frames applied by potential alliance partners in the process of alliance formation thereby making collaboration more likely. Using data on inventor mobility and alliance formation amongst 42 global pharmaceutical firms over 16 years, we show that inventor mobility is positively associated with the likelihood of alliance formation in periods following inventor movements. This relationship becomes more pronounced if mobile employees bring additional knowledge about their prior firm's technological capabilities and for alliances aimed at technology development rather than for agreements related to technology transfer. It is weakened, however, if the focal firm is already familiar with the competitor's technological capabilities. By revealing these relationships, our study contributes to research on alliance formation, employee mobility, and organizational frames.

show abstract

“…This is in line with the findings of existing literature (e.g. Rothaermel & Boeker, 2008). The results from the instrumental variable regressions differ only marginally.…”

Section: --------------------------------------------------Insert Tabsupporting

confidence: 92%

Knowing Me, Knowing You: Inventor Mobility and the Formation of Technology-oriented Alliances

Wagner

Goossen

2018

AMJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This assumption is conceivable because individual firms tend not to have fully identical knowledge bases. It is also consistent with findings in empirical research showing that firms consider knowledge complementarity when selecting their alliance partners (Arora and Gambardella 1990;Mowery et al 1998;Rothaermel and Boeker 2008). Note that this independence assumption is plausible, as each of a firm's partners must only hold some knowledge that is not held by the firm's other partners.…”

Section: Optimal Alliance Formation For a Close Learning Horizonsupporting

confidence: 85%

Learning horizon and optimal alliance formation

Frankort

Hagedoorn

Letterie

2015

Comput Math Organ Theory

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We develop a theoretical Bayesian learning model to examine how a firm's learning horizon, defined as the maximum distance in a network of alliances across which the firm learns from other firms, conditions its optimal number of direct alliance partners under technological uncertainty. We compare theoretical optima for a 'close' learning horizon, where a firm learns only from direct alliance partners, and a 'distant' learning horizon, where a firm learns both from direct and indirect alliance partners. Our theory implies that in high tech industries, a distant learning horizon allows a firm to substitute indirect for direct partners, while in low tech industries indirect partners complement direct partners. Moreover, in high tech industries, optimal alliance formation is less sensitive to changes in structural model parameters when a firm's learning horizon is distant rather than close. Our contribution lies in offering a formal theory of the role of indirect partners in optimal alliance portfolio design that generates normative propositions amenable to future empirical refutation.

show abstract

“…In a study of large chemical firms, Ahuja and Lampert (2001) proffer evidence to suggest that mature incumbents overcome pathologies of aging by branching into new domains and by recombining new with old knowledge. Other researchers have investigated the temporal and structural effects of recombining new with old knowledge on innovative output (Nerkar, 2003;Rosenkopf and Nerkar, 2001;Rothaermel and Boeker, 2008;Yayavaram and Ahuja, 2008). We contribute to this conversation by examining the role of entry into novel technology areas, i.e.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Entry into new niches: the effects of firm age and the expansion of technological capabilities on innovative output and impact

Kotha

Zheng

George

2011

Strategic Management Journal

188

116

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We provide evidence that young firms systematically differ from older firms in their innovative output when they enter 'new to the firm' technological niches. We analyze data from 128 biotechnology firms since their inception and track these firms over time. Our analyses reveal that the organizational age at which the firm branches into new technological niches significantly influences its innovative activity. We refine the focus of the extant literature by separately examining the effects of branching on the quantity of innovative output, and the impact that this output has on the technology domain. Subsequent to branching into new niches, we find that older firms have a higher quantity of output than their younger counterparts; whereas young firms tend to outpace their older rivals with higher impact. The implications of these findings for the literature on dynamic capabilities and entrepreneurship are discussed. Entry into New Niches 3How does the timing of capability development matter? We examine whether the benefits that accrue to expanding technological capabilities are contingent upon firm age. We draw on the organizational aging and dynamic capability literatures to study how the expansion of a firm's capabilities by entering 'new to the firm' technological niches, termed as branching, at different points in the firm's age would vary in its influence on subsequent innovative activity.Though commonly assumed that startups create breakthrough inventions, some contrarian evidence suggests that mature incumbents also generate such discoveries (Dushnitsky and Lenox, 2005;Phene et al., 2006). In a study of large chemical firms, Ahuja and Lampert (2001) proffer evidence to suggest that mature incumbents overcome pathologies of aging by branching into new domains and by recombining new with old knowledge. Other researchers have investigated the temporal and structural effects of recombining new with old knowledge on innovative output (Nerkar, 2003;Rosenkopf and Nerkar, 2001;Rothaermel and Boeker, 2008;Yayavaram and Ahuja, 2008). We contribute to this conversation by examining the role of entry into novel technology areas, i.e. branching, and how the effects of branching on innovative activity vary with firm age.To examine whether the pattern of optimal technological expansion is conditional on firm age, we study innovative output of biotechnology firms from their inception over a twenty year period. This sample allows us to investigate the underlying conditions when firms optimize their output and impact by managing entry into new technological niches. The study engages the literature on capability development, especially in young firms. The entry into new niches corresponds with the expansion of a firm's technological capabilities to drive innovation within and across these technological domains. We also refine the focus of the extant literature by Entry into New Niches 4 separately examining the effects of branching on the quantity of innovative output and the impact that the output has on the technol...

show abstract

Old technology meets new technology: complementarities, similarities, and alliance formation

Abstract: Alliance formation is commonplace in many high

Cited by 400 publications

References 81 publications

Knowing Me, Knowing You: Inventor Mobility and the Formation of Technology-oriented Alliances

Knowing Me, Knowing You: Inventor Mobility and the Formation of Technology-oriented Alliances

Learning horizon and optimal alliance formation

Entry into new niches: the effects of firm age and the expansion of technological capabilities on innovative output and impact

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About