External sources of knowledge and performance in R&D organizations

Birkinshaw, J and Fey, C (2001) External sources of knowledge and performance in R&D organizations. Working Paper. London Business School Strategic and International Management Working Paper.

Abstract

We argue that the firm's ability to generate competitive advantage from its knowledge assets is a function of (1) the nature of the knowledge assets in question, and specifically the ease with which they can be protected, and (2) the approaches used by the firm to access knowledge from outside, and more specifically the extent to which each approach results in the inflow and outflow of knowledge. These arguments are tested and supported using data on the R&D organizations of 103 large firms in the UK and Sweden. Key words: Research & Development, knowledge, external sourcing