Alliance portfolios and joint R&D project performance

Abstract

This research examines the effects of alliance portfolios – the collection of alliances a firm undertakes – on joint R&D project performance. Drawing on the exploration-exploitation framework, we examine how alliance portfolio exploration (alliances across product-markets) and portfolio exploitation (alliances within product-markets) influence alliance partners' R&D projects. Moreover, we conceptualize alliance portfolio ambidexterity as a balanced portfolio of alliances across and within product-markets, and examine its effect on project performance. Finally, we hypothesize how factors at two different levels – alliance type (scale or link), and network density – moderate the relationships between firms' alliance portfolios and performance. We collect data on nearly 600 alliances over 12 years and find that alliance portfolio exploration and exploitation increase joint R&D project performance, and that alliance portfolio ambidexterity enhances performance to a greater extent. We also find that both scale alliances and network density reinforce the relationship between alliance portfolio exploration and project performance, and they diminish the relationship between alliance portfolio exploitation and performance.