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There is a tension between the literatures on incomplete contracting and transactions cost economics regarding the importance of ex post governance and the extent to which formal theories of incomplete contracting capture salient aspects of exchange relations. In this paper, we empirically examine how firms structure joint R&D agreements to illuminate how contracts can be incomplete and how governance can matter. We employ a dataset of 96 contracts to construct a taxonomy of the types of mechanisms firms use in organizing collaborative R&D, and indicate how groups of mechanisms line up with various types of contracting hazards. The results suggest that the allocation of property rights over innovations at the time of contracting between R&D partners is an important aspect of contract design. But they also suggest that weak property rights admit scope for other dimensions of contract. In particular, the research indicates that while knowledge spillovers may give rise to appropriability hazards, efforts to contain or channel knowledge spillovers may enable joint venture members to strategically block other members’ follow-on commercialization or research. Firms design joint R&D governance mechanisms to balance spillover hazards and strategic blocking.

We examine the determinants of multinational firms’ propensity to conduct R&D activities in host countries, with specific attention to the influence of host countries’ university research. We consider heterogeneous locational drivers related to the type of R&D activity: basic research, applied research, development for local markets, and development for global markets. Drawing on official survey data on R&D activities by 498 Japanese multinational firms in 24 host countries and estimating two-stage models, we find that the likelihood that firms conduct R&D in a host country is generally increasing in the strength of university research. Conditional on a firm’s R&D presence, university research strength is associated with a greater propensity to conduct (basic) research activities rather than (local) development, while the intensity of host country university–industry collaboration is most strongly associated with applied research. Host country experience and the depth of the firm’s manufacturing presence are also associated higher propensities to engage in research.

This study investigates the conditions that shape the contractual structure of pharmaceutical-biotechnology R&D agreements and whether these collaborations have produced measurable impact on the overall R&D productivity of pharmaceutical companies. In one section, the effect of uncertainty due to the advances in technology on the structure of R&D contracts is discussed. Specifically, it is shown that newer technologies associated with higher uncertainty result in the choice of more hierarchical contract structures. In addition, the significance of R&D collaborations on the overall innovation process of pharmaceutical companies is evaluated. The results indicate that only some types of R&D alliances, signed in earlier stages of research, have a significant role in the patent production and drug discovery process.

Purpose – This chapter addresses the participation of women (or lack of it) in industrial research and development (R&D), one of the key indicators of innovation.

Methodology/approach – The empirical investigation is based on a sample of 84 science- and technology-based small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), engaged in new product development and innovation, operating in the United Kingdom.

Findings – The results demonstrate that the participation of women in R&D employment, particularly at senior levels, in the SME sector operating in England, is extremely low, partly attributed to some specific challenges faced by science and R&D-based SMEs. As a result of under-representation in the scientific research, women are missing out on the opportunities that are offered by ‘open innovation’ activities such as university–industry collaboration, access to external networks, exchange of knowledge and ideas and working on joint innovation projects with other scientific researchers elsewhere.

Research limitations/implications – There is a need for more rigorous research at firm levels to examine the cumulative effects of factors that could be translated into policy measures in order to attract more women to industrial research.

Practical implications – Specific policy measures should also focus on addressing barriers faced by SMEs to meet the specific needs of their female R&D employees, particularly those expecting or looking after young children while undertaking scientific research in laboratories.

Social implications – There is a need to raise a greater awareness and promote the take-up of numerous specific positive action measures, networking platforms and other promotional activities amongst women working in the private sectors, particularly those working in isolation in laboratories.

Originality/value of chapter – The findings are, fundamentally, based on an original and unique database. Women in industrial R&D is relatively a new topic of policy and research and their participation in R&D team within the science and technology-based SMEs in England has not been investigated before.

The competitiveness of companies and their capacity to join markets have changed as a result of the digital economy. One of the reasons the European Commission will revise the rules governing block exemptions for R&D agreements and begin consulting stakeholders in March 2022 is the impact of digitalisation on markets. This chapter looks into how digitalisation has impacted the competitive analysis and evaluation that Moldovan businesses and the competition authority must conduct when looking at R&D collaborations.

For the purposes of the research in this chapter, we used methods such as analysis, deduction, induction, and synthesis of conceptual approaches to the digitalization of the competitive assessment, to elucidate the factors influencing competitiveness in R&D agreements. We also assessed the situation in the Republic of Moldova to formulate conclusions and own opinions about how the introduction of new processes and products on the market will stimulate competition among national firms and will strengthen their ability to compete in regional or even international markets. The recommendations and proposals for improving the management of competence to encourage businesses to innovate collaborate and exchange knowledge to produce innovative goods and services, including green economy solutions and initiatives with the security to comply with a competition policy adapted to the requirements of the new economy, as well as to the new changes in the European competition policy.

This chapter argues that intra-firm geographic mobility is an understudied mechanism that can help mitigate coordination failures in a geographically distributed organization. The chapter presents an organizing framework on how intra-firm geographic mobility creates value for firms and discusses how intra-firm geographic mobility can create value for individual workers. The chapter concludes by presenting a future research agenda for intra-firm geographic mobility in light of emerging phenomena such as global collaborative patenting by multinationals, temporary colocation of knowledge workers, and nonstandard work.