AIMS 2013b
Rakotondravoavy, Y. and Corbel, P. « Quand mobiliser les connaissances issues des projets collaboratifs en R&D ? Enseignements issus de deux études de cas », Proceedings of the 22nd conference of the AIMS (Association Internationale de Management Stratégique), Clermont-Ferrand, June 2013
Abstract:
The theoretical objective of this paper is to contribute to enriching the concept of absorptive capacities, which has evolved significantly since its foundations were laid by Cohen and Levinthal (1990). We begin by reviewing this concept and its relationship with the concepts of coopetition and the exploration/exploitation dilemma, and we show that its complexity is still only imperfectly grasped by the research carried out on the latter. We then reintroduce this notion of tension between exploration and exploitation within the concept itself, following Zahra and George (Zahra and George, 2002). We then show how this tension is translated into practice in the field through an analysis of two case studies.
The contrast between these two in-depth case studies of research projects involving large companies, SMEs and public research laboratories, based on participant observation crossed with semi-structured interviews with the various players around the project's business model, shows that the desire of a lead firm to exploit the results of this type of project too quickly can lead to a deterioration in relations between the partners and the failure of the project. This leads us to consider how the tensions between competition and cooperation, and between exploration and exploitation, should be taken into account in the development of this type of project.