Firm exit from open multiparty alliances: The role of social influence, uncertainty, and interfirm imitation in collective technology development

Research Policy · 2023 · Volume 52 · Issue 4

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2022.104705

Abstract

Highlights • Open multiparty alliances shape technology development in sectors such as mobile phones. • Firms are subject to social influence due to uncertainty in technology development. • Under elevated uncertainty, firms imitate their industry peers in exiting open multiparty alliances. • Information and resource benefits from network centrality positions immunize firms from social influence in alliance exits. • Alliance architects should monitor membership dynamics as unwarranted exit waves could lead to the failure of the alliance's technologies. Abstract This study examines exit dynamics in open multiparty alliances, an important form of interfirm collaboration that includes committee-based standard-setting organizations, research and technology consortia, and other types of open meta-organizations. Open multiparty alliances differ markedly from more commonly studied dyadic alliances and closed multiparty alliances due to the open nature of membership and the broad diversity of firms that collaborate towards shaping the trajectory of emerging technologies in a sector. Drawing from literature on interfirm imitation, we posit that under conditions of elevated uncertainty about the technologies under development and the ability of diverse alliance members to work together effectively, firms are subject to social influence from their industry peers and thus tend to imitate them in exiting open multiparty alliances. However, we also argue that firms that are central in the wider network of alliances have access to superior information on sector developments as well as key resources that immunize them from such social influence effects. Analyses of the exit dynamics of the nine most influential open multiparty alliances that shaped the global mobile phone sector between 2000 and 2012 support our predictions. Our findings contribute to research on interfirm collaboration in technology-intensive contexts, in particular on open collaboration between multiple partners. Graphical abstract Download: Download high-res image (201KB) Download: Download full-size image

Keywords

Networks, Emerging technologies, Innovation management, Open multiparty alliances, Interfirm collaboration

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