International strategic alliances for innovation in the Indian biotechnology industry

Abstract

Innovation has increasingly become a key activity for firms seeking to cope with rapid changes in technology, increased competition, and growing product complexity. The literature on alliance-based innovation strategies is premised on the strategic intent of at least one of the partner firms to appropriate knowledge applicable to making new products, processes, or services; the intent is to absorb the partner’s capabilities. To learn through an alliance, a firm must have access to partner knowledge and work closely with the partner. Therefore, both the collaborative process and firm-specific factors must be understood. This chapter is based on research that seeks to determine factors that may optimize learning and hence innovation. The Indian biotechnology industry is chosen as the context for this study, since alliances in this industry are predominantly undertaken for the purposes of innovation and learning. Implications of this research for practice are also discussed.