Cross-border R&D alliance networks: an empirical study of the umbilical cord blood banking industry in emerging markets

The concept of the cross-border collaboration network has been recognised as a useful way toobtain external R&D knowledge resources in the biotechnology industry. Drawing on socialcapital theory, this study explores how two types of network position (centrality andstructural holes) and cross-border collaborative ties affect the cross-border R&Dcollaborative alliance of the biotechnology firms and how these effects are contingent onexploratory collaboration with their collaboration partners. Analysis of the data collectedfrom 174 cross-border collaboration partners in the emerging biotechnology sector indicatesthat the two types of network position differ in the extent to which they contribute to thecross-border R&D collaborative alliance. By investigating the contingent role of exploratorycollaboration, we find that exploratory collaboration weakens the impact of networkcentrality on the cross-border R&D collaborative alliance but strengthens the effect ofstructural holes on the establishment of cross-border R&D collaborative alliance. Resultsconfirm that biotechnology firms’ cross-border R&D knowledge resources need to extendbeyond their industry and regional boundaries. More specifically, this study contributes tothe debate on whether network centrality and structural holes are complementary and thusenrich contextual cross-border alliance literature