Part 2: Cases “There are two sides to every story”: Innovation and collaboration within networks of large and small firms

Abstract

Inter-firm collaboration for innovation increasingly appears as a industrial response to changing economic and technological conditions both in the UK and internationally. This paper examines such responses, particularly at an informal level between small and large firms, in the light of recent arguments about economic and technological imperatives, disorganised capitalism, control versus cooperation and the growing debate over the significance of networks. Using a case study approach, the motives and problems of firms in such relationships are explored, with special reference to the UK context.