How does firms’ participation in R&D alliances impact their subsequent innovation performance? Studying this question, most prior research argues for a positive effect while explicitly or implicitly assuming that the predominant motive for firms to enter R&D alliances is knowledge acquisition. Contrary to this view, we point out that in many instances, firms may form R&D alliances for the purpose of knowledge accession, which allows them to leverage knowledge complementarities with partners and realize synergistic efficiencies in R&D without the intention to integrate knowledge. The reliance on alliances aimed at knowledge accession and the associated reduced learning during R&D (compared to solo R&D) hinders firms’ ability to innovate post-alliances in comparison to conducting R&D independently. Tracing over a decade of drug development histories of all firms in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry in the 1990s, we provide robust empirical support for our hypotheses.
