R&D supply chain and innovation performance: the contingent role of the firm’s position in the network

This paper conceptualizes the supply chain of innovation as a sub-set of the whole innovation network. We focus on the relationship between the activities of purchasing/selling R&D and the firm’s innovation performance. Specifically, we examine how the position of the firm within its innovation network moderates this relationship. Our empirical setting consists in cross-sectional data about 1772 agreements signed by biotech companies between 2006-2010. We find, first, anecdotal evidence of both the existence of the innovation supply chain and the phenomenon of firms’ positioning along it. Second, we find that information richness positively moderates the effect of purchasing R&D services on innovation performance and negatively the effect of selling R&D. Largely supporting our theoretical predictions, this paper offers contributions to the scientific literature on both innovation management and supply chain management and also proposes pertinent managerial implications.