What is R&D Cooperation

R&D cooperation and production cooperation are regarded as two key dimensions of collaborative arrangements in the innovation and production system. Different from prior studies focusing on performance outcomes, this study emphasizes the antecedents which have impacts on firms' decisions of R&D cooperation and production cooperation. The antecedents are identified and categorized into organizational characteristics (market orientation and technological capability), technical characteristics (technology clockspeed and technology-production fit), and relational characteristics (asset specificity). Through statistical analyses on survey data of Chinese manufacturing firms, this study finds that two factors including technology clockspeed and asset specificity have significant effects on firms' decisions of R&D cooperation, while technological capability, technology clockspeed, and technology-production fit are confirmed to have significant effects on decisions of production cooperation.