TECHNOLOGICAL COLLABORATION: The Dynamics of Cooperation in Industrial Innovation

This major new book provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary analysis of the nature and significance of collaboration between firms and other actors involved in industrial innovation.The motivations and mechanisms for technological collaboration, the fields in which it is likely to occur, and the consequences of collaboration for the parties involved and the economy as a whole are all addressed by a distinguished group of scholars drawn from economics, sociology, management theory and political economy. Areas and issues covered include growth theory and the theory of the firm, managerial objectives across different cultures, interfirm technological linkages, networks and innovation, strategic collaboration, collaborative agreements, state intervention, strategic alliances and informal networks. Technological Collaboration emphasizes the importance of interfirm collaboration and the establishment of networks in innovation and economic growth. The issues and themes raised in this volume will be of interest to scholars from a variety of different perspectives, interested in technical change, innovation and industrial organization.

Table of Contents:
Technological collaboration and networks of alliances in the innovation process, Rod Coombs, Albert Richards, Paolo Saviotti and Vivien Welsh; technological agreements and the networks and economic theory - interfaces and issues in the areas of growth theory and the theory of the firm, Francois Chesnais; managerial objectives and technological collaboration - the role of national variations in cultures and structures, Andrew Tylecote; learning, trust and interfirm technological linkages - some theoretical associations, Mark Dodgson; networks, tacit knowledge and innovation, Jacqueline Senker and Wendy Faulkner; strategic technological collaboration in Canadian industry - towards a theory of flexible or collective innovation, Jorge Niosi; the simultaneous shaping of organization and technology within co-operative agreements, Vincent Mangematin; the techno-economic network - a socio-economic approach to state intervention in innovation, Phillippe Laredo and Phillippe Mustar; understanding "strategic alliances" - the limits of transaction cost economics, Mo Yamin; dynamics of co-operation and industrial research and development - first insights into the Black Box II, Francois Leveque, C. Bonazzi and C. Quental; informal networks in thr origination of successful innovations, Fred Steward and Steve Conway.

About the Author :
Edited by Rod Coombs, Professor of Technology Management and Director of Cromtec, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK, the late Albert Richards, formerly, Research Associate, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK, Pier Paolo Saviotti, INRA-SERD, Pierre Mendès University, Grenoble and IDEFI-CNRS-UNSA Sophia-Antipolis, France and Vivien Walsh, Senior Lecturer in Technology Management, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK

Review :
'I would recommend the book to those interested in the links between innovation and industrial networks. I am sure that a number of the contributions would be interesting to many readers of Management Learning; at least those not deterred by the word "technological" in the title.' 'It is a timely book dealing with the important issues and complexity associated with collaborations and the resulting network formation. The book will provide important insights to the students and researchers of industrial economics, innovation management, and organization studies.'