Untangling the Interplay: Interfirm Alliances, University-Industry Collaboration, and Firm Innovation

Previous studies have examined the impact of one type of collaboration in isolation on firm innovation. However, there lacks a comprehensive analysis of how multiple types of collaboration jointly affect firm innovation. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring how interfirm alliances and university-industry collaboration jointly influence the innovation performance of the focal firm. Based on panel data of the global biopharmaceutical industry from 1990 to 2019, we employ a Poisson regression model to analyze the interaction effects between these two collaboration types. Our findings reveal a negative interaction effect of interfirm alliances and university-industry collaboration on the innovation performance of the focal firm. Technological capability weakens the negative interaction effect of interfirm alliances and university-industry collaboration, and technological diversity strengthens the negative interaction effect. This study advances the understanding of interorganizational collaboration by analyzing the joint effects of interfirm alliances and university-industry collaboration on firm innovation. Additionally, the findings provide practical guidance for firms to strategically simultaneously manage their collaborative efforts to optimize innovation outcomes.