Devrim Göktepe-Hultén
Senior lecturer
Who instigates university–industry collaborations? University scientists versus firm employees
Author
Summary, in English
While evidence on the causes and effects of university–industry interaction is abundant, little is known about how, and particularly by whom, such interaction is instigated in the first place and subsequently managed. In this paper, we investigate which mode of collaboration (joint research, contract research, consulting, in-licensing, or informal contacts) is more likely to be initiated and managed by firm employees versus by university scientists. Moreover, we are interested in the differences between small and large firms to see whether initiation and management are affected by firm size. Using a sample of 833 German manufacturing firms, our results indicate that university scientists typically start collaborations with industry, while firm employees would take over the management of projects. Results vary markedly between small and large firms, with university scientists having somewhat higher difficulties initiating collaborations with large firms than with small firms.
Department/s
- Department of Business Administration
Publishing year
2017-03
Language
English
Pages
503-524
Publication/Series
Small Business Economics
Volume
48
Issue
3
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Springer
Topic
- Business Administration
Keywords
- Firm size
- Initiation
- Management
- University–industry collaboration
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0921-898X