Title: Searching for complementary technological knowledge and downstream competences: clustering and cooperation

Authors: Cristina Quintana-Garcia, Carlos A. Benavides-Velasco

Addresses: Dpto. Economia y Administracion de Empresas, Facultad de Ciencias Economicas y Empresariales, Campus El Ejido, s/n, Malaga 29071, Spain. ' Dpto. Economia y Administracion de Empresas, E.T.S. Ingenieros Industriales, Campus El Ejido, s/n, Malaga 29071, Spain

Abstract: Alliances usually are considered a suitable strategy to obtain complementary resources in high-technology firms. In this paper, we make some advances in this topic analysing how the combined effect of location and cooperation networks explains different levels of access to scientific and technological knowledge and downstream competences. Our empirical evidence shows that being located in technological clusters benefits access to spillovers and knowledge from local upstream alliances. Additionally, this location positively influences the number of foreign downstream alliances that joint to national ones are the most effective ties to complete production and marketing capabilities. These results are important because both scientific knowledge and downstream competences are critical to innovation performance.

Keywords: agglomeration economies; cooperation networks; biotechnology; spillovers; vertical alliances; technological capabilities; complementary resources; high-technology firms; location; scientific knowledge; technological knowledge; downstream competences; technological clusters; innovation performance; clustering; collaboration agreements; distributed resources; innovation capability; SMEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2006.009238

International Journal of Technology Management, 2006 Vol.35 No.1/2/3/4, pp.262 - 283

Published online: 13 Mar 2006 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article