Favorable strategies for the success of entry into new technological areas: an entrepreneurial perspective

Abstract

This study considers the act of entering into new technological domains for R&D purposes as one of the most intense entrepreneurial activities within large established firms, referring to it as R&D entrepreneurship. Attempting to detect factors that could strengthen (or weaken) the impact of R&D entrepreneurship on innovation performance, I examine the moderating role of three important R&D strategies, namely the knowledge plurality, internal focus, and R&D collaboration. I empirically test the hypotheses developed in this study on secondary, longitudinal economic and patent data from a sample of 139 firms from the industries of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and chemicals for a 7-year period, using fixed-effects negative binomial regression models. Findings support that the relationship between R&D entrepreneurship and innovation performance is positively moderated by knowledge plurality but negatively by internal focus and R&D collaboration.