One-Way Spillovers, Endogenous Innovator/Imitator Roles, and Research Joint Ventures

One-Way Spillovers, Endogenous Innovator/Imitator Roles, and Research Joint Ventures

We consider a two-period duopoly characterized by a one-way spillover structure in process R&D and a very broad specification of product market competition. We show that a priori identical firms always engage in different levels of R&D, at equilibrium, thus giving rise to an innovator/imitator configuration and ending up with different sizes. We also provide a general analysis of the social ben...

Symmetric Research Joint Ventures

We introduce the concept of cooperative substitutes and complements, and use it to throw light on the conditions for a research joint venture to choose equal levels of R&D by all member firms. We show that the second-order conditions for a symmetric optimum take a particularly simple form, ruling out both excessive cooperative substitutability and excessive cooperative complementarity, and nest...

Technology Transfer and Spillovers in International Joint Ventures

It is often argued that multinationals are reluctant to transfer technology due to the fear of spillovers. We show that this need not be the case if host country policies like taxation are taken into account. Furthermore, we examine the incentives the multinational and the host country have to engage in an international joint venture. We show why a multinational may agree to enter a joint ventu...

Coordinating research through research joint ventures

In a simple model, we show that a joint venture can implement the rates of investment that maximize joint profit when firms’ research abilities are private information. This can be done with budget balance, even though there are participation constraints. There is no conflict between budget balance and participation constraints because firms’ payoffs can depend on ex post signals of abilities. ...

Research Joint Ventures, Innovation, and Multiproduct Competition