The Handbook of Technology and Innovation Management

12.1. Introduction

The knowledge intensive areas of our economy are characterized by rapid innovation fueled by technological and scientific advances. For firms competing in knowledge-based industries, continuous access to new information, know-how, and ideas is essential to success (Bierly and Chakrabarti, 1996). Firms create new knowledge through investments in R&D but, given the rapid pace of knowledge development around the world and the numerous scientific and technological frontiers along which innovation takes place, no firm can internally develop all the knowledge needed for success. Firms must, therefore, continuously access knowledge from other organizations including domestic and international firms, government laboratories, and universities (Arora and Gambardella, 1990; Powell et al., 1996).

One of the approaches taken by firms to monitor external knowledge development, and to absorb this knowledge when useful, is to engage in strategic alliances. Strategic alliances are used in numerous industries to gain access to ideas, knowhow, and expertise from other organizations (Inkpen, 1998). Empirical research has confirmed that alliances are an important source of scientific and technological knowledge (Mowery et al., 1996; Powell et al., 1996; Ahuja, 2000) and contribute to firm success (Stuart, 2000).

However, organizational collaborations in the form of strategic alliances are not the only source of external knowledge. Recent research, both conceptual and empirical, ...