Individual collaborations, strategic alliances and innovation: Insights from the biotechnology industry

Do firms benefit individual-level collaborative activities? Do these activities enhance the innovativeness of the firms that employ these collaborating scientists? And, what is the relationship between strategic alliances and individual collaborations as regards firm innovation? We elaborate on the role of individual and organizational collaborations and its impact on innovation. Our main purpose it to establish basic propositions to guide future research on individual-level collaborations, its relationship to strategic alliances and its impact on innovation. We build on some examples from the biotechnology industry as an example of a knowledge intensive industry. We explore the link between strategic alliances and innovation, individual collaborations and innovation, and the overall relation of strategic alliances, individual collaborations and innovation. We build propositions for each relationship. We present our conclusions and propositions for future research.