Success and failure of firms' innovation co-operations: The role of intermediaries and reciprocity*

There is manifold literature dealing with co-operative activities of firms. However, no empirical study seems to have investigated the factors leading to malfunctions in co-operation projects in terms of a low likelihood of co-operation, low rate of success, and failed co-operation. Our paper attempts to fill this gap by investigating the possible presence of two problems in co-operation: the lack of intermediation and of reciprocity. Based on data gathered for firms in two German regions and one French region, we find that the success of co-operation projects depends on the perceived importance, rather than on the perceived quality, of intermediate actors. Hence, the major problem for intermediating suitable partners is more related to communication than it is a programmatic issue. Trust and reciprocity in co-operation between firms is found to be relevant ex-post in the sense of being a main determinant of failed co-operation projects. Resumen La literatura acerca de las actividades cooperativas de las empresas es numerosa. Sin embargo, ningun estudio empirico parece haber investigado los factores que llevan a un mal funcionamiento de proyectos de cooperacion en terminos de baja probabilidad de cooperacion, baja tasa de exito, y cooperacion fallida. Nuestro articulo intenta cubrir este vacio con la investigacion de la posible aparicion de dos problemas de la cooperacion: la falta de intermediacion y de reciprocidad. Con base en los datos recolectados por empresas de dos regiones alemanas y una region francesa, encontramos que el exito de los proyectos de cooperacion depende de la percepcion de la importancia de actores intermediarios, mas que de la percepcion de su calidad. Por tanto, el problema principal en la intermediacion de socios adecuados esta mas relacionado con problemas de comunicacion que con temas programaticos. Se encontro que la confianza y reciprocidad en la cooperacion entre empresas son relevantes a posteriori en el sentido de ser una de las causas principales del fracaso de proyectos de cooperacion.