Examining alliance management capabilities in university-industry collaboration

Alexander Leischnig,Anja Geigenmüller

doi:10.1007/s10961-018-9671-7

Abstract

Effective university-industry technology transfer requires universities to maintain and strengthen research and technology capabilities on the one hand, but also to develop and strengthen management capabilities to build and manage relationships with external partners on the other hand. This research seeks to advance the knowledge on university-industry collaboration by examining how managerial routines that in sum reflect the concept of alliance management capability influence success of outward university technology transfer. The results of an empirical study with academics from different universities in Germany offer insights into net effects and configurational effects of routines to manage interorganizational collaboration on technology transfer success. The findings indicate that academic units’ alliance management capability has a significant positive effect on technology transfer success. In addition, the findings indicate different configurations of alliance management routines, reflecting alternative, consistently sufficient pathways to technology transfer success. This knowledge contributes to current debates by disclosing important predictors of successful university-industry collaboration. In addition, it informs decision makers in universities about how to configure management systems to govern outward technology transfer activity.

Highlights

Technology transfer and knowledge commercialization have become strategic priorities for many universities
Responding to recent calls that advocate a paradigm shift in theory-crafting and testing (e.g., Woodside 2013; 2014) and that emphasize the configurational approach as an inquiring systems to better understand alliance management (e.g., Geigenmüller and Leischnig 2017), we demonstrate how fuzzyset Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) can complement the insights obtained by structural equation modeling (SEM) to deepen the understanding of university-industry collaboration
Regarding the effects of the first-order dimensions, the results of the analysis reveal that alliance transformation (β = .38, p < .01) and interorganizational learning (β = .35, p < .01) have significant positive effects on technology transfer success (R2 = .55)

Summary

Introduction

Technology transfer and knowledge commercialization have become strategic priorities for many universities. Cross-national programs such as “Horizon 2020” by the European Commission or the “OECD Innovation Strategy” underline the idea of collaboration between the public and the private sectors to enhance innovation and generate jobs, growth, and a better quality of life (European Commission 2011; OECD 2010). Within this context, prior work has pointed to the importance of effective universityindustry collaboration as a mechanism to increase the application of university knowledge in business practice (Cyert and Goodman 1997; D’Este and Perkmann 2011; Schartinger et al 2002). As Ambos et al (2008, p. 1425) point out, “the challenge essentially involves taking an organization that is equipped for and accustomed to doing one thing (academic research) and at the same time asking it to build a capacity for doing something entirely different (commercialization of technologies and ideas).” Academic units oftentimes need to act as firm-like entities (i.e., “quasi firms”), “lacking only a direct profit motive to make them a company” (Etzkowitz 2003, p. 111)

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Conclusion