Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/86573 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper No. 07-039/3
Publisher: 
Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Abstract: 
This paper examines how a radical technological innovation affects alliance formation of firms and subsequent network structures. We use longitudinal data of interfirm R&D collaborations in the biopharmaceutical industry in which a new technological regime is established. Our findings suggest that it requires radical technological change for firms to leave their embedded path of existing alliances and form new alliances with new partners. While new partners are mostly found through the firms’ existing network, we provide some insight into distant link formation with unknown partners, which contributes to our understanding of how ‘small-worlds’ might emerge.
Subjects: 
Pharmaceutical industry
Biotechnology industry
R&D
Technological change
Alliances
Networks
JEL: 
O32
O31
L14
L24
M13
M21
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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