Inter‐Firm R&D Networks: the Importance of Strategic Network Capabilities for High‐Tech Partnership Formation1
| Published date | 01 March 2006 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2005.00474.x |
| Author | Nadine Roijakkers,John Hagedoorn,Hans Kranenburg |
| Date | 01 March 2006 |
Inter-Firm R&D Networks: the Importance
of Strategic Network Capabilities for
High-Tech Partnership Formation
1
John Hagedoorn, Nadine Roijakkers
*
and Hans Van Kranenburg
MERIT and Department of Organization and Strategy, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration,
Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands and
*
Eindhoven Center for
Innovation Studies (ECIS), P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
E-mail: j.hagedoorn@os.unimaas.nl [Hagedoorn]; A.H.W.M.Roijakkers@tm.tue.nl [Roijakkers];
h.vankranenburg@os.unimaas.nl
We examine the role of different network capabilities of companies that influence the
formation of R&D partnerships in pharmaceutical biotechnology. Strategic network
capabilities, specifically centrality-based capabilities and the efficiency with which
companies choose their partners, are found to facilitate the formation of new
partnerships. Unlike general experience with partnering, these strategic network
capabilities play a crucial role in enabling companies to continue to interact with other
companies through partnerships in a complex network setting.
Introduction
Experience with the formation of inter-firm
partnerships and the further development of
related partnering capabilities by companies play
an important role in the current discussion on
inter-firm partnership formation (see e.g. Anand
and Khanna, 2000; Gulati, 1995; Kale and Singh,
1999; Rothaermel and Deeds, 2001; Saxton,
1997). Previous research indicates that partnering
capabilities of companies can influence the like-
lihood that companies will continue to form
inter-firm partnerships. In order to contribute to
this body of literature, our study will attempt to
deepen the understanding of partnering capabil-
ities by considering specific network capabilities
of companies. This article stresses the importance
of comprehending the role of network capabil-
ities, in particular capabilities related to strategic
network positioning of companies and capabil-
ities regarding the efficiency with which they
choose their partners. Our perception of these
two specific strategic network capabilities is
based on crucial concepts from the social net-
work literature that, in our opinion, can play a
substantial role in the further development of the
theoretical and empirical analysis of inter-firm
partnerships. From a more practical and manage-
rial perspective, the main questions of our
contribution relate to the degree to which the
strategic positioning of companies in inter-firm
networks enables them to successfully keep
searching for future partners. In that context,
companies can consider strategic options in
which they are either very selective and efficient
in their partner choice or rather indiscriminate as
they follow a strategy in which they simply ‘shop
around’ and use every opportunity there is for
forming partnerships. We also reflect on the
question of whether companies that strategically
position themselves in between a lot of other
companies benefit from such a central position as
they are being invited to participate in future
partnering activities.
1
The authors would like to thank three anonymous
referees and John Bessant for their suggestions and
comments on earlier versions of this paper.
British Journal of Management, Vol. 17, 39–53 (2006)
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2005.00474.x
r2005 British Academy of Management
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