R&D alliances and the effect of experience on innovation: a focus on the semiconductor industry.

Despite the limitations, this article offers an interesting extension to previous studies on experience effects and shows that prior experience does matter, but only when it is relatively recent. Generalizability concerns are clearly prominent, but when we consider this study and Sampson's (2005) together, a stronger case can be made in favor of experience effects and their depreciation over time. Nevertheless, one remarkable difference, one that calls for further research, is the fact that the recency of the experience might be moderated by the type of industry. One possible way to answer this question is to conduct a cross-sectional analysis that looks at different industries simultaneously. Finally, an important managerial implication is the evidence that suggests that firms might have something to gain from the institutionalization of alliance management offices.

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Notes

(1.) Sampson's (2005) study considered patents between 1988 and 1996.

(2.) SIC classification code 3674.

(3.) Securities Database Corporation database also contains information on mergers and acquisitions.

(4.) Web site is http://www.uspto.gov

(5.) Web site is http://www.corporateaffiliations.com/

(6.) This model was estimated using STATA and the nbreg procedure.

Jaime C. Rubin de Celis is a PhD candidate at the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to returning to the University of Pittsburgh he served as a professor of project management and strategic management at Santa Maria University at both the Santiago, Chile and Guayauuil, Ecuador campuses.

John Lipinski is a PhD candidate at the University of Pittsburgh. He currently serves as an assistant professor at Robert Morris University in Moon Township, PA.

Jaime C. Rubin de Celis

University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

John Lipinski

Robert Morris University, Moon Township, Pennsylvania Table 1 Characteristic Values of the Sample Number of alliances 86 International alliances 34 (40%) Multilateral alliances 7 (9%) Number of firms 137 (65% United States, 15% Japan,

9% Europe, 10% Central Asia) Number of nations 18 Table 2 Alliance Scope Categories Category Description Narrow Alliances focused on development of new

products based closely on existing technology Intermediate Alliances that do not fall into either of the other

categories Broad Alliances that are intended to produce next-

generation products Table 3 Descriptive Statistics

1 2 3 1. PATENT 1.000 2. EXPERIENCE (LOG) 0.308 *** 1.000 3. PATENT (FIRM) 0.966 *** 0.276 *** 1.000 4. PATENT (PARTNER) 0.134 ** 0.014 0.084 5. TECH DIVERSITY -0.086 -0.081 -0.055 6. TECH DIVERSITY2 -0.104 -0.085 -0.075 7. INTERNATIONAL 0.129 * 0.169 ** 0.150 ** 8. MULTILATERAL 0.121 0.062 0.105 9. OTHER ALLIANCE 0.261 *** 0.103 0.254 *** 10. YEAR98 0.106 0.029 0.104 11. SCOPE NARROW -0.015 0.067 -0.012 12 SCOPE BROAD -0.012 -0.034 -0.018 Mean 1,683.63 9.92 1,331.98 Median 82.00 11.00 81.00 Minimum 0.00 0.00 0.00 Maximum 8,002.00 26.00 7,523.00 Standard deviation 2,496.82 7.34 2,029.87

4 5 6 1. PATENT 2. EXPERIENCE (LOG) 3. PATENT (FIRM) 4. PATENT (PARTNER) 1.000 5. TECH DIVERSITY 0.046 1.000 6. TECH DIVERSITY2 0.037 0.996 *** 1.000 7. INTERNATIONAL 0.084 0.080 0.072 8. MULTILATERAL -0.054 0.079 0.079 9. OTHER ALLIANCE 0.083 -0.210 *** -0.218 *** 10. YEAR98 0.090 -0.059 -0.060 11. SCOPE NARROW -0.024 0.079 0.071 12 SCOPE BROAD 0.164 ** 0.074 0.075 Mean 1,165.74 0.90 0.83 Median 42.50 0.95 0.91 Minimum 0.00 0.43 0.19 Maximum 11,367.00 1.00 1.00 Standard deviation 2,205.44 0.13 0.21