کسب دانش، از دست دادن دانش، و رضایت در اتحادهای فن آوری پیشرفته

Drawing on the organizational learning and transaction cost economics (TCE) literature, this study examines how learning intent, opportunities to learn, and a firm's ability to learn facilitate or hinder three alliance outcomes: knowledge acquisition by the focal firm, knowledge loss to the partner, and alliance satisfaction. The research model proposes that firms attempt to influence learning opportunities based on a partner's intent and ability to learn as well as on the trust the firm has in the partner. A partner's learning intent and ability are positively associated with the extent to which a firm protects its own firm-specific knowledge, but they only have significant effects on one alliance outcome, knowledge loss. With more trusted partners, firms are less protective of knowledge and tend to acquire more knowledge, lose less knowledge, and be more satisfied. Equity alliances are associated with lower levels of knowledge loss and higher levels of satisfaction.

Competition requires that firms continually acquire and develop new knowledge and skills. A great deal of attention has recently been focused on knowledge acquisition as an important outcome for firms engaged in strategic alliances (Lin and Germain, 1999). Because alliance success has been linked to learning and knowledge sharing (Crossan and Inkpen, 1995), partners have been urged to create an environment conducive to learning. Such an environment, however, can expose a firm's critical knowledge and capabilities to a partner and may lead to imitation or appropriation. To prevent the loss of firm-specific knowledge, firms may try to prevent such losses by limiting a partner's learning opportunities. These actions, however, may also reduce the firm's own opportunities to learn and may affect alliance success. Lyles and Salk (1996) suggest that we need a greater understanding of what facilitates knowledge acquisition and skills development. Despite their important role in knowledge acquisition, however, few studies have empirically examined the learning outcomes of alliances. In one of the few studies to do so, Simonin (1997) investigated how collaborative experience and know-how affected knowledge acquisition. He suggests that “…firm- and alliance-specific variables such as strategic intent, transparency, organizational capabilities, and resource commitments” (p. 1170) must also be studied. In line with this recommendation, this paper presents the results of an exploratory study that investigates firm- and alliance-specific factors associated with firm actions to limit partner learning because of the threat of unwanted knowledge acquisition by the partner and, in turn, how these actions and other factors affect the firm's own knowledge acquisition and its partners' knowledge acquisition. In high technology product development alliances, partners are interdependent because each partner must contribute resources for the development to succeed (Gulati et al., 1994). Reciprocal information exchange is necessary to complete designs and to enable mutual adjustments (Osborn et al., 1998). Greater frequency and quality of information exchange can increase the innovativeness and quality of products designed, while lowering the costs of development (Larson, 1992). Such exchanges, however, create learning opportunities that enable a firm to appropriate knowledge from partners. Thus, the risk of knowledge appropriation is particularly high in development alliances (Park and Kim, 1997) and these alliances are the context used for this study.