San Diego State U., Fowler College of Business, United States
This study draws on organizational learning and knowledge transfer theories, to examine the nuanced impact of technological alliances on firm performance through contingencies associated with R&D capabilities, industry dynamism, and age disparity. The findings of this study suggest that despite some of the skepticism surrounding the efficacy and effectiveness of alliances, forming technological alliances improves firm performance in terms of both gross profit and market value. The findings also suggest the negative moderation effect associated with industry dynamism and the positive moderation effect associated with age disparity between alliance partners. Interestingly, R&D capability was shown to strengthen the effect of technological alliances on the subjective and perceived measure of firm market value but the same cannot be said about the objective financial measure of firm profit. This disparity suggests that R&D capabilities strengthen the outcome of technological alliances mainly through mechanisms such as signaling that impact perception of stakeholders, as opposed to processes contributing to tangible outcomes.