Title: Formal collaboration and informal information flow

Authors: Stuart Macdonald

Addresses: Centre for Corporate Strategy and Change, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK; Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex, Brighton BNl 9RF, UK; Graduate School of Management, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia

Abstract: The current enthusiasm for technological collaboration among firms is almost overwhelming. What reservation is expressed is on the grounds that competition may be reduced, and that this may have a deleterious effect on innovation. This paper suggests that a more worrying consequence may result from damage done to the informal information networks on which firms in competition rely. If these are disrupted by collaboration, then the ability of both collaborating firms and non-collaborating firms to innovate and to compete may be seriously impaired.

Keywords: technological collaboration; firms; gatekeepers; high technology; information flow; information networks; innovation; research and development; R&D; informal networks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.1992.025708

International Journal of Technology Management, 1992 Vol.7 No.1/2/3, pp.49 - 60

Published online: 24 May 2009 *

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