On the explanation of horizontal, vertical and cross-sector R&D partnerships – evidence for the German industrial sector

This paper investigates the determinants of inter-firm cooperation inresearch and development (R&D). We analyse the impact of structural and firmspecific characteristics, market performance, access to resources and managerialtechniques on different types of inter-firm R&D cooperation. Based on a surveyof 886 enterprises in manufacturing and industry/business-related serviceslocated in Germany, we estimate several models with different types of R&Dpartnerships as a dependent variable to find out which types of enterprises aremore or less likely to form or join either type of R&D partnership. The findingssuggest that the availability and the quality of a firm’s own R&D resources arecommon factors driving R&D cooperation in general. Differentiating betweencooperation activities in R&D among enterprises on the same productionlevel on the one hand and vertical cooperation between enterprises andsuppliers/customers or cross-sector alliances between enterprises and publicresearch institutes on the other hand, we find cooperation type specificdeterminants of entry. The size of a firm, its location, access to financialresources and network experience seem to be most important.[...]