The invention performance implications of coopetition: How technological, geographical, and product market overlaps shape learning and competitive tension in R&D alliances

Abstract

Research Summary We examine how technological, geographical, and product market overlaps between a firm and its alliance partner influence the firm's invention performance by shaping the learning and competitive tension in an R&D alliance. Drawing on research on learning in alliances and competitive dynamics, we argue that the firm's invention performance is influenced positively by technological and geographical overlaps and negatively by product market overlap. We further argue that product market overlap negatively moderates the positive relationships between technological and geographical overlaps and the firm's invention performance. Testing our theory on a dataset of 215 R&D alliances provides support for most of our hypotheses. We discuss how our theory and findings enrich coopetition and alliance research. Managerial Summary Prominent R&D alliances, such as between BioNtech and Pfizer or Samsung and Sony, typify coopetition—the collaboration between competing firms. In this context of coopetition, we study how a firm's invention performance is influenced by the technological, geographical, and product market overlaps it has with its R&D alliance partner. Empirical results from a sample of 215 R&D alliances formed between U.S. pharmaceutical firms confirm our theory that product market overlap is distinct from the other types of overlap: it changes the thrust of the alliance from joint value creation toward private value appropriation. This way, product market overlap not only decreases a firm's invention performance, but also weakens the positive impacts of technological and geographical overlaps on a firm's invention performance.

Partners' knowledge utilization and exploratory innovation: the moderating effect of competitive and collaborative relationships

“…The shaping of organizational relationships by technological proximity arises in two ways. On the one hand, it provides opportunities for organizations to learn from each other, and on the other hand, it increases the risk of knowledge leakage, which can lead to competitive tensions between organizations (Runge et al, 2022;Yan et al, 2020). The generally accepted competitive relationship may not only exist at the technology level, but also at the product level (Park et al, 2014a, b).…”

From Coopetition to Hyper-Coopetition: Focusing on a New Paradigm of Heterogeneous Organizational Relationship in the High-Tech Industry

“…Coopetition has been studied from various perspectives, such as the coopetition of established companies, SMEs, and networks [24,[33][34][35][36][37][38]. Studies investigating coopetition in alliances have focused on outcomes of coopetition and influencing factors, such as product market overlap between partners and a scale of the alliance [35,36].…”

“…Coopetition has been studied from various perspectives, such as the coopetition of established companies, SMEs, and networks [24,[33][34][35][36][37][38]. Studies investigating coopetition in alliances have focused on outcomes of coopetition and influencing factors, such as product market overlap between partners and a scale of the alliance [35,36]. For example, Runge et al [35] examined the influence of an alliance partner with a focus on learning and competitive tension in an R&D alliance using a dataset of 215 R&D alliances of US pharmaceutical companies.…”

“…Studies investigating coopetition in alliances have focused on outcomes of coopetition and influencing factors, such as product market overlap between partners and a scale of the alliance [35,36]. For example, Runge et al [35] examined the influence of an alliance partner with a focus on learning and competitive tension in an R&D alliance using a dataset of 215 R&D alliances of US pharmaceutical companies. The analysis result indicated that technological and geographical overlaps increase the company's invention performance, whereas product market overlap hinders the company's invention performance [35].…”

“…For example, Runge et al [35] examined the influence of an alliance partner with a focus on learning and competitive tension in an R&D alliance using a dataset of 215 R&D alliances of US pharmaceutical companies. The analysis result indicated that technological and geographical overlaps increase the company's invention performance, whereas product market overlap hinders the company's invention performance [35]. Coopetition between start-ups and established companies has positive influences on participants by providing access to estab-lished companies' resources for start-ups and access to start-ups' innovation capabilities for established companies [33].…”