Abstract
Globalization has been a main driver for firms' entry into standard-setting organizations (SSOs). These global multifirm settings have caught attention due to tensions arising from simultaneous collaboration and competition among firms as well as due to the increasing geographical complexity of the standardization process. SSOs present one form of a multifirm environment, where companies proactively and voluntarily collaborate to develop a new standard. Although a growing body of literature has tried to understand firms' underlying rationales for engaging in SSOs, we know little about firm-level characteristics influencing the propensity to enter a standard-setting organization. For this purpose, data of the Community Innovation Survey 2011 for Germany are merged with data of companies' participation at technical committees of the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) between 2010 and 2013. Using these unique data, we can observe the moment when firms enter a technical committee of a formal SSO and, hence, tackle the problem of simultaneity. Our results show that the likelihood to enter a technical committee of an SSO increases for firms that introduce new products or services into the market, while absorptive capacity does not have a significant positive influence. Finally, the protection of innovations by patents further enhances the likelihood to enter a technical committee of an SSO.
Highlights
A MULTIFIRM setting describes a collective, voluntary collaboration between different organizational partners that interactively engages its multiple members in multilateral interaction among partners and generates unique dynamics
Significant negative influences would direct to the conclusion that companies with lower R&D-intensities respectively firm size compared to the average standardizing company in their sector are more likely to enter standardization and, that the group of established standardizers has an significant impact on the decision to join an standard-setting organizations (SSOs)
The results display that there is a nonlinear relationship between the firm size and the likelihood to join a technical committee at Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN)
Summary
A MULTIFIRM setting describes a collective, voluntary collaboration between different organizational partners that interactively engages its multiple members in multilateral interaction among partners and generates unique dynamics. A particular form of a multifirm setting is elucidated in formal SSOs, which has evoked interest by several researchers because of their importance to shape technological trajectories and dominant designs and the resulting tensions arising from simultaneous collaboration and competition firms engaging in SSOs encounter ([9], [22], [81]). Despite these competitive concerns, the growing membership numbers and a continued proliferation of standards bodies suggests an organizational form that enables the participating firms to manage such competitive tensions to attain a cooperative technology agreement. The results are discussed, limitations and implications for further research are presented
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