Title: Quantifying the private returns to collaborative research: the case of SEMATECH

Authors: A.N. Link, W.F. Finan

Addresses: Joseph M Bryan School of Business and Economics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27412, USA. Technecon Analytic Research, 2445 M Street NW, Washington DC 20037, USA

Abstract: American companies have embraced collaborative research ventures as an organisational form conducive for carrying out critical, advanced research programmes. This is evidenced, in part, by the rapid growth in consortium research since the passage of the US National Cooperative Research Act of 1984. However, there is a conspicuous absence of detailed case studies that document the returns to member companies involved in collaborative research ventures. This void is due to the perception, both on the part of consortium managers and member companies, that such an evaluation would lack rigour and be too cumbersome to undertake. This paper presents a general methodology for evaluating the returns to collaborative research membership, and illustrates it by summarising an analysis of the private returns to the corporate members of a cooperative research venture called SEMATECH.

Keywords: SEMATECH; collaborative research.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.1997.001688

International Journal of Technology Management, 1997 Vol.13 No.5/6, pp.695-705

Published online: 17 Aug 2003 *

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