The Role of Reputation Building in International R&D Project Collaboration

Abstract

Various factors stimulate firms to bring together knowledge from diverse areas of expertise and participate in RD the relationship between trust and reputation, and two models for understanding collaborative RD (2) The initial phase of the project, where firms demonstrate their knowledge, interact professionally and socially, and demonstrate their competences in handling the project; (3) After the initial project phase, reputation is created based on first- and second-hand information and the intensity and type of interaction made in the prior phase; (4) The creation of a ‘reputation’ produces different levels of trust among the partners; (5) Levels of trust define the type of further R&D collaboration. Reputation building is found to be an important selection mechanism in R&D collaboration, and it is suggested that this may be especially true when newcomers want to enter a new arena. Furthermore, the role of reputation, reputation building, and trust may be especially important in the high-tech industry due to a high level of uncertainty and complexity. Finally, some implications for research and management are discussed.