An empirical assessment of a learning and Knowledge Management typology for Research Joint Ventures

As innovation and technology management grow in complexity the need for inter-organizational cooperation increases. Part of this cooperation requires the understanding of how knowledge management and learning processes may function to support a successful research and development collaboration. To further this understanding we introduce a typology to help categorize various collaborative efforts within a research joint venture environment. The typology is based on two dimensions the locus of the research joint venture knowledge and the knowledge management approach. Using a broad -based European database 98 research joint venture projects were used to evaluate the typology. We test two hypotheses related to these relationships. Implications for research and management of these types of projects are also introduced throughout the paper.