Inter-Firm Technological Cooperation Effects of Absorptive Capacity, Firm-Size and Specialization

This paper aims to add evidence on the role played by firms' technological competencies in the determination of their intensity of cooperation with other firms. Using a database composed by patents jointly filed by two or more firms in the European Patent Office, the paper: (i) finds no support for the hypothesis that in order for firms to increase their rate of cooperation they should expand their R&D expenditures; (ii) holds that technological cooperation is explained by the need of the firm to acquire complementary competencies; (iii) concludes that cooperation is an alternative technological strategy for those firms that have adopted lean production to overcome obstacles posed by the cross-fertilization of technological fields; (iv) shows that Japanese firms have a higher level of cooperation than Western ones. This latter feature may be explained by the Japanese firm's greater level of productive specialization.