Resource creation and partnership in R&D consortia

International audienceIn this article, we examine, through an analysis of characteristics specific to both the partner firm and the consortium, the process of creating new resources and competencies in research and development (R&D) consortia. As interfirm cooperation develops, issues concerning the role of competencies and specific resources become increasingly relevant. While theoretical work in this area has grown significantly, empirical analysis has been less systematic; we attempt here to fulfill the insufficiencies in empirical analysis. Since we are interested in how individual participating companies succeed in creating resources, our research is focused on the partner firm itself and not on the consortium as a whole. Our statistical analysis of 317 firms enables us to examine the different types of technological developments that can be achieved through EUREKA R&D consortia. We study the impact that partner characteristics and the choice of a consortium's organizational form can have on the types of resources created by a partner. Our findings, which detail the factors that affect the creation of competencies in R&D consortia, strongly support the resource-based theory of the fir