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Empirical Evidence on the Success of R&D Cooperation—Happy Together?

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Abstract

In this paper we analyse the effect of past R&D cooperation on current firms’ innovation performance. Success measures are: sales of innovative products, distinguishing between products new to the firm and new to the market, and cost reductions due to innovative processes. Particular attention is paid to the impact of different cooperation partners. The analysis rests on firm-level data of the annual German innovation survey. We find that R&D cooperation with competitors leads to greater cost reductions that are attributable to innovative processes. R&D cooperation with research institutes has a positive influence on a firm’s economic success with market novelties.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), P.O. Box 10 34 43, 68034, Mannheim, Germany

    Birgit Aschhoff

  2. Deutsche Bundesbank, Economic Research Centre, Wilhelm-Epstein-Strasse 14, 60431, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Tobias Schmidt

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  1. Birgit Aschhoff
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  2. Tobias Schmidt
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Correspondence to Birgit Aschhoff.

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Aschhoff, B., Schmidt, T. Empirical Evidence on the Success of R&D Cooperation—Happy Together?. Rev Ind Organ 33, 41–62 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11151-008-9179-7

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