R&D Alliance Preference in ICT Industry

In information and communication technology (ICT) areas, dominated platform technologies give significant influences on customer‟s purchase decision. Therefore, the success of ICT product/service depends on platform technologies. Eventually firms having accumulated knowledge about platform technologies would be preferred as R&D partners according to relationship marketing theory. We utilize an adaptive conjoint analysis to identify the relative importance of various attributes representing platform technology dominance. The results derived from the preferences of R&D managers show that the network externalities are the most important attribute in selecting R&D partner. Moreover, significance of increasing returns to adoption, attracting complementary suppliers and building an early lead follow in the order as mentioned. We also found that platform dominance attributes are less influential on pharmaceuticals & chemical industry than ICT industry.

Keywords:

R&D Partner Selection , Platform Technology Competition , Adaptive Conjoint Analysis , Strategic Alliance , Technology Competition