Collaboration and acquisition have traditionally been observed as two alternative strategies when accessing external technologies. However, real option scholars have recently argued that firms can also engage in transitional technology sourcing trajectories where collaboration and acquisition...

Combining both interview data and empirical analyses at the patent and firm levels, we explore the value-appropriation and value-creation implications of R&D collaboration resulting in the co-ownership of intellectual property (i.e. co-patents). We make an explicit distinction between three...