IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v17y2024i4p137-d1364416.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Knowledge Sharing and Cumulative Innovation in Business Networks

Author

Listed:
  • Gilles Saint-Paul

    (Paris School of Economics (ENS-PSL), 75014 Paris, France)

Abstract

How can we explain the success of cooperative networks of firms which share innovations, such as Silicon Valley or the Open Source community? This paper shows that if innovations are cumulative, making an invention publicly available to a network of firms may be valuable if the firm expects to benefit from future improvements made by other firms. A cooperative equilibrium where all innovations are made public is shown to exist under certain conditions. Furthermore, such an equilibrium does not rest on punishment strategies being followed after a deviation: it is optimal not to deviate regardless of another firm’s actions following a deviation. A cooperative equilibrium is more likely to arise the greater the number of firms in the network. When R&D effort is endogenous, cooperative equilibria are associated with strategic complementarities between firms’ research effort, which may lead to multiple equilibria.

Suggested Citation

  • Gilles Saint-Paul, 2024. "Knowledge Sharing and Cumulative Innovation in Business Networks," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-17, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:17:y:2024:i:4:p:137-:d:1364416
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/17/4/137/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/17/4/137/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. d'Aspremont, Claude & Jacquemin, Alexis, 1988. "Cooperative and Noncooperative R&D in Duopoly with Spillovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(5), pages 1133-1137, December.
    2. Ümit K. SEYFETTİNOĞLU & Şebnem ARIK & Selim ÇAĞATAY, 2020. "Determinants of Industry and Region Based Open Innovation in Turkey," Istanbul Business Research, Istanbul University Business School, vol. 49(1), pages 1-35, May.
    3. Filipe Carvalho Vieira & Leandro R.C. Bonfim & Aline Cristina da Cruz, 2021. "The process of opening innovation networks: open innovation at Embrapa Florestas," Innovation & Management Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 19(2), pages 123-139, July.
    4. Andrew Brod & Ram Shivakumar, 1997. "R&D Cooperation and the Joint Exploitation of R&D," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 30(3), pages 673-684, August.
    5. Petit, Maria Luisa & Tolwinski, Boleslaw, 1999. "R&D cooperation or competition?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 185-208, January.
    6. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 1993. "Innovation and Growth in the Global Economy," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262570971, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Suetens, Sigrid, 2008. "Does R&D cooperation facilitate price collusion? An experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 66(3-4), pages 822-836, June.
    2. Müller, Aranja & Zaby, Alexandra K., 2019. "Research joint ventures and technological proximity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1187-1200.
    3. Ruslan Lukach & Joseph Plasmans & Peter M. Kort, 2005. "Innovation Strategies in a Competitive Dynamic Setting," CESifo Working Paper Series 1395, CESifo.
    4. Motchenkova, E.I. & Rus, O., 2011. "Research joint ventures and price collusion: Joint analysis of the impact of R&D subsidies and antitrust fines," Serie Research Memoranda 0025, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.
    5. Cellini, Roberto & Lambertini, Luca, 2009. "Dynamic R&D with spillovers: Competition vs cooperation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 568-582, March.
    6. Hinloopen, J. & Smrkolj, G. & Wagener, F.O.O., 2013. "In Defense of Trusts: R&D Cooperation in Global Perspective," CeNDEF Working Papers 13-05, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Center for Nonlinear Dynamics in Economics and Finance.
    7. Adrien Hervouet & Michel Trommetter, 2020. "Public-private R&D partnerships: A solution to increase knowledge sharing in R&D cooperation," Working Papers hal-02906270, HAL.
    8. Ahmad Naimzada & Emanuela Randon, 2004. "Technology Sharing Cartels and Industrial Structure under a Rule of Thumb," Working Papers 71, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised May 2004.
    9. Peter M. Kort & Ruslan Lukach & Joseph Plasmans, 2007. "Strategic R&D with Knowledge Spillovers and Endogenous Time to Complete," CESifo Working Paper Series 2027, CESifo.
    10. Christian Wey, 1999. "Compatibility Investments in Duopoly with Demand Side Spillovers under Different Degrees of Cooperation," CIG Working Papers FS IV 99-02, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG), revised Aug 1999.
    11. Chiara Conti & Marco A. Marini, 2019. "Are you the right partner? R&D agreement as a screening device," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(3), pages 243-264, April.
    12. Marie-Laure Cabon-Dhersin & Romain Gibert, 2017. "Cooperation or non-cooperation in R&D: how should research be funded? ," Working Papers hal-01587014, HAL.
    13. Marie-Laure Cabon-Dhersin & Romain Gibert, 2018. "Cooperation or non-cooperation in R&D: how should research be funded?," Post-Print hal-02006515, HAL.
    14. Joseph Plasmans, 2000. "R&D and Production Behavior of Asymmetric Duopoly Subject to Knowledge Spillovers," CESifo Working Paper Series 287, CESifo.
    15. María José Gil Moltó & Nikolaos Georgantzís & Vicente Orts, 2005. "Cooperative R&D with Endogenous Technology Differentiation," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 461-476, June.
    16. Duarte Leite & Pedro Campos & Isabel Mota, 2011. "Computational Results on Membership in R&D Cooperation Networks: To Be or Not To Be in a Research Joint Venture," FEP Working Papers 420, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    17. Amoroso, Sara & Martino, Roberto, 2020. "Regulations and technology gap in Europe: The role of firm dynamics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    18. Navas, Jorge & Kort, Peter M., 2007. "Time to complete and research joint ventures: A differential game approach," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 1672-1696, May.
    19. Smrkolj, Grega & Wagener, Florian, 2019. "Research among copycats: R&D, spillovers, and feedback strategies," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 82-120.
    20. Hinloopen, Jeroen, 2000. "Strategic R&D Co-operatives," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 153-185, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:17:y:2024:i:4:p:137-:d:1364416. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.