The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science presents two special issues on collaborative alliances that examine the contributions and limits of existing theories for explaining collaboration, and tha...

Collaborative Alliances: Moving from Practice to Theory:

2007 is Research-Technology Management's 50th year of publication. To mark the occasion, each issue will reprint one of RTM's six most frequently referenced articles. The articles were identified b...

Managing Invention and Innovation

We investigate the impact of communication in field-level networks on rates of formation of interorganizational collaborative ties, such as strategic alliances and joint ventures. After developing the concept of an organizational field network (“field-net”), we derive a set of testable propositions and corollaries that relate field-net properties, such as density, reciprocity, centralization, multiplexity, and hierarchy, to subsequent nonlinear changes in interorganizational tie-formation rates. We conclude by discussing aspects of empirical research for testing the empirical validity of these propositions.

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How Organizational Field Networks Shape Interorganizational Tie-Formation Rates

Reviewing the behavioral science knowledge base on technology transfer. Introduction.

A field study was conducted to determine whether diverse, competing stakeholders in a domain can use collaboration to intentionally initiate innovative public policy affecting that domain. The subjects consisted of 61 participants representing 24 stakeholder groups gathered by a U.S. governor that met regularly from 1985 to 1987 to develop a "visionary proposal "for the state's public education. The authors sought to differentiate the substance of collaboration from its result and devised a sociological concept of collaboration with five elements: transmutational purpose, explicit and voluntary membership, organization, interactive process, and temporal property. The results reveal that the stakeholders did collaborate to initiate public policy. The results also show that the collaboration was associated with innovation as hypothesized and that this innovation was incremental rather than radical in nature.

Stakeholder Collaboration and Innovation: A Study of Public Policy Initiation at the State Level:

The 1980s may be remembered as America's R&D consortia years. Since the beginning of this decade, industry, universities, and government have been working together as never before, developing new business ideas, researching new technologies, and tapping new markets. These are America's new R&D consortia, say the authors of THE NEW ALLIANCE, and they represent a phenomenon important enough to be termed a "movement." These alliances involve a wide and varied array of industries, educational institutions, political actors, and economic conditions. Founded by industry executives, academics, and government leaders who share a common recognition of the importance of high technology to our economy, as well as education's vital role in maintaining our competitive strength, the R&D consortia may be the newest examples of America's traditional resourcefulness, creativity, and resilience. THE NEW ALLIANCE provides the first in-depth look at this significant phenomenon, analyzing the successes and failures of R&D consortia in the areas of leadership, research management, and technology transfer. Based on extensive interviews at fourteen consortia nationwide, this book looks into the possible future of the consortia experiment, focusing on electronics, manufacturing, robotics, and new materials consortia.

Larry R. Crockett

Papers

The New Alliance: America's R&D Consortia