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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of formulation categories (parent brand and extension product) and research and development (R&D) cooperation types on electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) volume for extension products.

This study uses data from 109 extension products in the Korean dessert market whose formulations were changed between 1 February 2014 and 19 February 2019. The formulation categories and R&D cooperation types are transformed into dummy variables to conduct a linear regression.

The formulation categories and R&D cooperation types play key roles in proliferating eWOM for formulation change products. The most effective way to proliferate eWOM is through product extension by changing the formulation of ice cream, beverage and snack category products. Furthermore, vertical R&D cooperation positively affects the proliferation of products' eWOM.

These findings contribute to increasing the chance of successful food product development by providing information on the formulation changes that are effective at inducing consumers' interest.

Based on firms’ need to remain competitive and dynamic in a scenario of constant change, the purpose of this paper is to compare the actors involved in cooperation for innovation between Brazilian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large firms (LFs), and also in two industries/sectors, manufacturing and services.

To achieve this objective, the database chosen was PINTEC, with data available from 1998 to 2014. The statistical analyses performed were binary logistic regression, descriptive statistics of the variables, correlation matrix and the difference of means.

The empirical evidence show that the firm’s characteristics (SME or LF) favour the use of one type of cooperation for innovation or another, highlighting SMEs’ proximity to their clients and LFs’ structures, tending to belong to business groups and having links to training centres and technical assistance networks.

The theoretical contribution of this study lies in the evidence that types of cooperation for innovation can vary according to firm size and the type of industry/sector, and the practical contribution lies in pointing out the importance of clients for SMEs, and for LFs the importance of business groups, technical assistance and professional training centres. The importance of suppliers in cooperation for innovation stands out in the service sector, and that of clients in the manufacturing sector.

This study shows that the types of cooperation to innovation can vary according to firm size and type of sector, in an emerging market and with low rates of innovation. It is emphasized that most research on the subject has been carried out in developed countries or emerging Asian ones. Therefore, this study is innovative because it shows particularities of the Brazilian market that can subsequently be observed in other emerging markets.

This paper aims to analyse the influence of cooperation on the degree of novelty of technological innovations introduced by industrial firms in Argentina. This influence is analysed from three perspectives: cooperation by partner type [business partners or scientific and technological centres (S&T) partners]; cooperation by number of partner types, from no cooperation to cooperation with two partner types; and cooperation by goals pursued by firms.

The data come from one of the last national innovation surveys conducted in Argentina. The study controls for endogeneity, using instrumental variable procedures within the conditional mixed-process (CMP) framework.

The main result is the influence of cooperation with universities and S&T centres on the introduction of more novel innovations, which was found both in estimations with and without endogeneity correction. This influence was verified for more complex goals (R&D, technology transfer and industrial design and engineering) as well as for less complex ones (tests and trials, human resources training, quality management and certification). Business cooperation seems to impact only on a lower degree of novelty for more complex goals. The increase in the number of partners that the firm cooperates with, from no cooperation to joint cooperation with two partner types, influences more novel innovations.

Limitations and proposals for future research are discussed at the end of the study.

The results of this study contrast with the high propensity to cooperate with business partners shown by firms in Argentina and other Latin American countries. Therefore, this paper may help formulate more effective policies to promote cooperation conducive to firm innovation performance. Limitations and proposals for future research are discussed at the end of the study.

Although there is empirical evidence on this topic for developed countries, firm-level studies on cooperation and degree of novelty are scarce for Latin America. In addition, this paper analyses cooperation not only by type of partner but also by type of goal. This study attempted to control for endogeneity by using instrumental variables within the CMP framework.

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the motives, structure and performance attributes of horizontal cooperations between logistics service providers (LSPs). Based on an analytical classification model, distinctive types of logistics cooperation that characterize the logistics landscape are identified.

Empirical data were collected on horizontal LSP cooperations from managers of German LSPs. Different uni‐ and multi‐variate statistical methods including ANOVA and cluster analysis were applied to the dataset of 226 cooperations for a total of 6,081 involved parties.

Horizontal cooperations with other LSPs are an organizational form used by 57 percent of LSPs. Cooperation decisions are substantially driven by external market objectives. Six distinctive types of cooperation are identified. They reveal the dominance of multi‐lateral and international networks that are mainly based on contractual agreements. There is a clear preference for partners with similar market competencies and for strong functional integration. Despite its inherent complexity, performance of these cooperations is high – its less than 19 percent failure rate makes these cooperations substantially more stable than cooperations within manufacturing industries.

This study is limited to an exploratory, descriptive approach in providing a sound understanding of the cooperation landscape.

The findings contribute transparency to horizontal LSP cooperations and a common understanding of their idiosyncrasies. The conclusions help logistics managers to position themselves better within the cooperation landscape. Further, the analyses offer managers a conceptual classification of horizontal LSP cooperations and some guidance on how to structure their individual LSP cooperations more successfully.

This paper is the first empirical study that defines the types of cooperation that comprise the logistics cooperation landscape. The analysis integrates a holistic perspective of their contractual, organizational, functional, geographical, service and resource scope and matches them with underlying motives and performance attributes.

This study aims to investigate how small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) perceive the benefits and obstacles with university cooperation for themselves and regional development, setting out from the personal relations the parts have formed.

A quantitative approach was adopted, using a sample of 336 Brazilian SMEs that had undertaken some cooperation with universities in the past years.

From structural equation modelling, results show that interpersonal relations interfere in the type of cooperation formed, these being a catalyst in formalizing the cooperation. These relations also interfere in the perception of barriers and benefits of cooperation for the firm.

The results are clearer in the firm domain and less so in the region, implying that university-SME cooperation does not yet present clearly disseminated benefits so that firms can be more aware of the results. The barriers to cooperation seem to be overcome by interpersonal relations but also by the contracts established since they were more evident in the informal type of cooperation.

This study provides more empirical evidence about these relations in a context of low socio-economic development, a topic which is still under-explored in the field of university-firm cooperation.

The purposes of this paper are to provide first a detailed description of the use of interfirm cooperation by a large sample of Dutch firms of different sizes and from different industries, and second, to examine the governance role of financial managers in the management of cooperative arrangements.

Research questions are developed based on a review of previous literature and data were collected using a questionnaire administered to a large sample of Dutch firms.

The paper finds that the sample firms are generally well engaged in various types of interfirm cooperation, in particular in outsourcing arrangements and joint ventures. In addition, larger firms are on average involved in more types of cooperation than smaller firms are, and different cooperative activities and forms are frequently used in combination. On average, financial managers report to be actively involved in the management of interfirm cooperation, which ranges from monitoring yearly results, providing advice, supervising performance, to managing daily operations of the cooperation. In this management role, they mostly use frequent detailed financial and non‐financial performance information, which often not only relates to their own firm, but also to the partner firm.

This research provides evidence of the extensive use of interfirm cooperation in practice and identifies an important governance role of financial managers in the management of interfirm cooperation. An analysis of differences in this role across different types of cooperation and functional levels of financial managers is provided.

The findings provide new insights into firms' use of a broad range of interfirm cooperative activities and into the governance role financial managers in these activities. Consistent with prior studies that document an increasing propensity of firms to engage in cooperative arrangements, the results support that interfirm cooperation constitutes an important area for research in accounting. This paper provides several suggestions for future research aimed at improving researchers' and practitioners' understanding of the management of interfirm cooperation.

This paper aims to explore the complete process and underlying mechanism that social enterprises obtain legitimacy during interactions with stakeholders from theoretical integration of institutional theory and organization ecology perspective.

Based on theoretical classification, this paper selects six typical Chinese social enterprises and conducts a multi-case analysis.

The study finds that social enterprises aim at legitimizing single entity or industry and shaping stakeholders’ cognitive boundary simultaneously. Therefore, by adopting constrained cooperation and competition activities, social enterprises use normative isomorphism to achieve personal legitimation and combining ecological niche construction, social enterprises achieve organizational legitimation. By adopting fragmented cooperation-dominant or competition-dominant activities, social enterprises use mimic isomorphism supplemented by competitive isomorphism or population structure creation to obtain industry legitimation. By adopting dynamically integrated coopetition activities, social enterprises use mimic isomorphism and reflexive isomorphism to reach field legitimation.

This paper proposes a mechanism model that the coopetition with stakeholders influences the legitimation process, identifies four stages of social enterprise’s legitimation process and the types of legitimacy obtained in each stage and fills the gap of Chinese indigenous social enterprise research.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse cooperation in R&D in the automobile industry in Spain. It first examines to what extent firms cooperate with external actors in the field of technological innovation, and if so, with what type of cooperation partner, paying special attention to the differentiation according to the size of the firms. Second, it aims to study how the firm’s size may affect not only the decision of cooperating but also with which type of partner.

The data in this study came from the surveys done in 2010 and 2013 by the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) for firms in the automotive industry. The paper estimates a bivariate probit model that takes into account the two types of cooperation mostly present in such an industry, vertical and institutional, explicitly considering the interdependencies that may arise in their simultaneous choice.

The empirical study confirms that small firms cooperate less frequently than big firms and that giving more importance to information publicly available and having public financial support from local and national governments are important determinants of collaboration agreements, mainly in the case of customers and suppliers.

This paper contributes to the understanding of the motivations of the automotive industry for engaging in R&D cooperation agreements. The authors study how the firm’s size may affect not only the decision of cooperating but also with which type of partner.

This study aims to understand in what way international cooperation between universities and/or firms can be seen as a vehicle in the transfer of knowledge and innovation for implementation of environmentally sustainable practices.

To do so, a qualitative approach was adopted, resorting to the case study method: the EdgeWise project. Data were obtained from interviews, documentation provided by partners and observation, and the content analysis technique was also used.

The results lead to the conclusion that this type of international cooperation is supported by solid dimensions, such as knowledge transfer and appropriate choice of partners. In addition, the dimension related to organisational culture is not considered a barrier in the cooperation process studied here, but rather as a form of learning among partners.

The empirical evidence suggests that it will add value to the understanding of the various issues surrounding resources (water and energy) that differ from country to country. However, the administrative-bureaucratic dimension is identified as a barrier to this type of cooperation/project, with its analysis being suggested for future studies.

This innovative study shows that the literature and the case study made identified various dimensions; motivations, barriers and drivers, of knowledge transfer, choice of partners and organisational culture. In addition, this study contributes for international universities-firms cooperation in sustainability area.

Although the existing literature indicates the strategy of decentralization adopted by the Chinese government has permitted the introduction of transnational higher education (TNHE) into mainland China at its very beginning in the 1980s, relatively little research has been conducted to explore the effects of the ensuing-released policies on the development of TNHE after then, especially at institutional level. The purpose of this paper is to fill this research gap by presenting data/information about recent development of TNHE in China and analyzing teachers’/students’ perceptions of autonomy enjoyed by the newly emerging cooperation type, Sino-foreign cooperation universities.

Based upon the purposive sampling method, we chose University A and B as case studies in this research to ensure the representativeness, since they cooperate separately with the major exporters of TNHE in China. In addition, key informants and snowball sampling were adopted to select our respondents. In total 5 administrative staff and 12 students were interviewed to evaluate their working/ learning experience there. The detailed information about the interviewees are listed as Appendix.

The fieldwork conducted in 2014 and 2015 reveals the governance model toward Sino-foreign cooperation universities could be categorized as predominantly decentralized. Specifically, the authors listed the most obvious aspects showing the different level of autonomy enjoyed by different cooperation types below: the internal administrative structure, the enrollment capacity, the criteria of admission and the quality assurance method.

This paper critically explores how local education bureaus regulate these TNHE programs in general and monitor the operation of the overseas university campuses being founded in China in particular. In addition, this paper also reports the field interviews with faculty members and students, particularly their evaluation of working/learning experiences in the field of TNHE. Most important of all, this paper critically reflects upon the changing educational governance and explores what regulatory regime could better conceptualize the changing state-TNHE relations in China.