The influence of institutional factors on the technology acquisition performance of high-tech firms: survey results from Germany and Japan

Abstract

The technology acquisition performance of firms is influenced by a variety of institutional factors which include access to R&D personnel, access to external sources of knowledge (firms and research institutions), the political, legal and administrative environment and the organization of knowledge transfer. A detailed analysis of the influence of these factors on the technology acquisition performance of German and Japanese pharmaceutical and semiconductor business units reveals that it (1) generally varies to a large extent between different factors and (2) also differs between countries and industries to a considerable degree.