Take a Portfolio View of CRADAs

Effects of Technology Flows on Industrial Performance: The Contingent Role of Diversity of R&D Human Capital

“…At a more general level, diversity of R&D human capital on technology flows aligns with recent interest among scholars and practitioners, who increasingly note that industrial R&D human capital portfolios represent an important level of analysis, above and beyond individual partnerships (Hoffmann 2007;Lavie 2007;Munson and Spivey 2006;Wassmer 2010). Diversity of R&D human capital would predominantly deepen an industrial technological understanding, while novel partnerships would instead enrich the focal industrial perspectives on new technology flow (Lavie and Rosenkopf 2006).…”

“…Diversity of R&D human capital on technology flows aligns with recent interest among scholars and practitioners, who increasingly note that R&D portfolios represent an important level of analysis, above and beyond individual partnerships (Hoffmann 2007;Lavie 2007;Munson and Spivey 2006;Wassmer 2010). The acquisition of disembodied technology is typically associated with the absence of qualified R&D human capital.…”

R&D partnership portfolios and the inflow of technological knowledge

“…Recent studies suggest that R&D partnership portfolios, more than individual partnerships alone, represent key knowledge-gathering conduits because a portfolio allows a firm to leverage informational complementarities across its various R&D projects (Faems et al, 2005;George et al, 2001;Munson & Spivey, 2006;Soh, 2003). This portfolio argument echoes insights provided by the literature on parallel search in research and development projects (Abernathy & Rosenbloom, 1969;Childs & Triantis, 1999;Krishnan & Ulrich, 2001;Nelson, 1961).…”

“…At a more general level, our portfolio perspective on knowledge inflows aligns with recent interest among scholars and practitioners, who increasingly note that partnership portfolios represent an important level of analysis, above and beyond individual partnerships (Bamford & Ernst, 2002;Gulati, 2007;Hoffmann, 2007;Lavie, 2007;Mahnke, Overby, & Nielsen, 2006;Munson & Spivey, 2006;Parise & Sasson, 2002;Wassmer, 2010;Wassmer, Dussauge, & Planellas, 2010). Like internal project portfolios, external partnership portfolios exhibit aggregate compositional properties with crucial implications for understanding firm behavior and performance.…”

“…Therefore, many firms have assembled portfolios of R&D partnerships to scan multiple external sources of knowledge, allowing them to reduce technological uncertainty, shorten their innovation time span, and increase their performance (Hagedoorn, 1993(Hagedoorn, , 2002Laursen & Salter, 2006;Leiponen & Helfat, 2010;Powell, Koput, Smith-Doerr, & Owen-Smith, 1999). Recent studies argue that R&D partnership portfolios, more than individual partnerships alone, represent key knowledge-gathering conduits that allow firms to leverage informational complementarities across their various R&D projects (Faems, van Looy, & Debackere, 2005;George, Zahra, Wheatley, & Khan, 2001;Munson & Spivey, 2006). Consistent with this view, several studies have shown empirical associations between R&D partnership portfolios and innovation (Powell et al, 1999;Rothaermel & Deeds, 2006;Soh, 2003;Stuart, 2000;Wuyts, Dutta, & Stremersch, 2004), while others have suggested a link between technological uncertainty and firms' proclivity to engage in multiple simultaneous R&D partnerships (Hagedoorn, 1993;Powell, Koput, & Smith-Doerr, 1996;Rosenkopf & Schilling, 2008).…”