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A tale of two literatures: Transaction costs and property rights in innovation outsourcing

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  • Gooroochurn, Nishaal
  • Hanley, Aoife

Abstract

This paper investigates the relative importance of property rights (PR) and transactions cost (TC) factors in driving the decision of firms to outsource innovation. The TC literature explains a small part of outsourcing decisions (cost saving motives) while the PR literature deals with revenue maximisation. Using data for over 8,000 firms from the UK Community Innovation Survey, we find that PR variables dominate over TC variables. Our results suggest that the decision to outsource innovation is mostly driven by the ability of firms to control information leakages, less so by cost motives.
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  • Gooroochurn, Nishaal & Hanley, Aoife, 2007. "A tale of two literatures: Transaction costs and property rights in innovation outsourcing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 1483-1495, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:36:y:2007:i:10:p:1483-1495
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    Cited by:

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    5. Christoph Grimpe & Ulrich Kaiser, 2008. "Gains and Pains from Contract Research: A Transaction and Firm-level Perspective," CIE Discussion Papers 2008-01, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Industrial Economics.
    6. Eilhard, Jan, 2008. "Firms on SourceForge," MPRA Paper 7809, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Huasheng Zhu & Xue Huang & Qingcan He & Jie Li & Lingzhi Ren, 2016. "Sustaining Competitiveness: Moving Towards Upstream Manufacturing in Specialized-Market-Based Clusters in the Chinese Toy Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-19, February.
    8. Materia, Valentina & Pascucci, Stefano & Dries, Liesbeth, 2015. "Are in-house and outsourcing innovation strategies interlinked? Evidence from the European agri-food sector," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212449, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Emanuele Breda & Lucia Schiavon, 2017. "L?evoluzione del sistema moda in Veneto," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2017(3), pages 148-169.
    10. Khraishi, Ahmad & Huq, Fahian & Paulraj, Antony, 2020. "Offshoring innovation: An empirical investigation of dyadic complementarity within SMEs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 86-97.
    11. Ziming Bai & Tianyi Wang & Jiabin Xu & Cuixia Li, 2023. "Can Agricultural Productive Services Inhibit Carbon Emissions? Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-20, June.
    12. Bos, Brenda & Broekhuizen, Thijs L.J. & de Faria, Pedro, 2015. "A dynamic view on secrecy management," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(12), pages 2619-2627.
    13. KANI Masayo & MOTOHASHI Kazuyuki, 2013. "Determinants of Demand for Technology in Relationships with Complementary Assets in Japanese Firms," Discussion papers 13033, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    14. Pascucci, Stefano & Royer, Annie & Bijman, Jos, 2011. "Should I Make or Should I Buy? Innovation Strategies and Governance Structures in the Italian Food Sector," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 2(2), pages 1-14, December.
    15. Christian Peukert, 2012. "External Technology Supply and Client-Side Innovation," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, in: David B. Audretsch & Erik E. Lehmann & Albert N. Link & Alexander Starnecker (ed.), Technology Transfer in a Global Economy, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 161-184, Springer.
    16. Shi, Xianwei & Liang, Xingkun & Luo, Yining, 2023. "Unpacking the intellectual structure of ecosystem research in innovation studies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(6).
    17. Luigi Cantone & Pierpaolo Testa & Svend Hollensen & Giuseppe Fabio Cantone, 2019. "Outsourcing New Product Development Fostered By Disruptive Technological Innovation: A Decision-Making Model," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(01), pages 1-45, January.
    18. Blandine Laperche, 2012. "How to Coordinate the Networked Enterprise in a Context of Open Innovation? A New Function for Intellectual Property Rights," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 3(4), pages 354-371, December.
    19. Minarelli, Francesca & Raggi, Meri & Viaggi, Davide, 2015. "Innovation in European food SMEs: determinants and links between types," Bio-based and Applied Economics Journal, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-21, April.
    20. Cohen, Maurie J., 2010. "Destination unknown: Pursuing sustainable mobility in the face of rival societal aspirations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 459-470, May.
    21. Valentina C. Materia & Stefano Pascucci & Liesbeth Dries, 2017. "Are In-House and Outsourcing Innovation Strategies Correlated? Evidence from the European Agri-Food Sector," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(1), pages 249-268, February.
    22. Pascucci, Stefano & Royer, Annie & Bijman, Jos, 2012. "To Make or to Buy: Is this the Question?," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 15(3), pages 1-20, September.
    23. Laspia, Alessandro & Sansone, Giuliano & Landoni, Paolo & Racanelli, Domenico & Bartezzaghi, Emilio, 2021. "The organization of innovation services in science and technology parks: Evidence from a multi-case study analysis in Europe," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    24. Bertrand, Olivier, 2009. "Effects of foreign acquisitions on R&D activity: Evidence from firm-level data for France," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 1021-1031, July.

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    JEL classification:

    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights

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