Tapping into Industry and Academia: Inbound Mobility, R&D Collaboration and Substitution Effects

Arjan Markus, Lori Rosenkopf

    Publikation: KonferencebidragPaperForskningpeer review

    Abstract

    This paper studies how different boundary-spanning mechanisms concurrently impact firm innovation. We specifically examine how inbound mobility and R&D collaboration interact when firms use these mechanisms to tap into two distinct knowledge domains: industry and academia. To examine the impacts of simultaneously sourcing academia and industry through hiring and collaboration we utilize a unique Danish dataset which draws on three independent data sources including employer-employee register data, R&D survey data, and patent application data from the European Patent Office. The analysis relies on 13472 firm-year observations, including 12608 hiring events and 691 collaborations, in the period 2001-2004. The results indicate that inbound mobility and collaboration substitute for one another and this result accentuates when firms use both mechanisms to source knowledge from within either the industry or academia domain. We interpret these results as evidence of knowledge redundancies, diseconomies of scope and attention-allocation problems. We contrast prior research on the benefits of involving external partners in a firm?s R&D process by underscoring negative marginal returns from simultaneously sourcing the same type of external organization with a different mechanism.
    OriginalsprogEngelsk
    Publikationsdatojun. 2013
    Antal sider41
    StatusUdgivet - jun. 2013
    BegivenhedThe 35th DRUID Celebration Conference 2013: Innovation, Strategy and Entrepreneurship: Competitiveness and Dynamics of Organizations, Technologies, Systems and Geography - ESADE Business School, Ramon Llull University, Barcelona, Spanien
    Varighed: 17 jun. 201319 jun. 2013
    Konferencens nummer: 35
    http://druid8.sit.aau.dk/registrant/index/login/cid/13

    Konference

    KonferenceThe 35th DRUID Celebration Conference 2013: Innovation, Strategy and Entrepreneurship
    Nummer35
    LokationESADE Business School, Ramon Llull University
    Land/OmrådeSpanien
    ByBarcelona
    Periode17/06/201319/06/2013
    AndetThe DRUID Society Conference 2013
    Internetadresse

    Emneord

    • Hiring
    • University-Industry
    • Substitution
    • Innovation
    • Collaboration

    Citationsformater