Critical Success Factors for Research Collaborations between Firms and Research Institutes in New Zealand

Ongoing discussions and changes in the New Zealand innovation system have underlined the need to improve the level of co-operation between firms and the Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) in New Zealand. This study contributes to this discussion by assessing the critical success factors for research co-operations between firms and CRIs. Alongside the practical value of this study, it also contributes to the development of relationship marketing theory, where empirical insights into research co-operations between firms and research institutes is lacking. Specifically, a case study methodology was utilised to test a conceptual model developed from existing literature in the context of research cooperations between universities and firms. To do so, similarities and contrasts between two successful research co-operations and two less successful research co-operations were examined in the light of 12 previously developed propositions. Findings from this study highlight the strong similarity of success factors for research cooperations between firms and universities with those of firms and research institutes. However, additional themes emerged from this study, notably the concepts of group diversity and the multidimensionality of trust. The emergence of these additional themes might be explained by the unique characteristics of the New Zealand innovation system (remoteness and small size of firms), and the study methodology, which enabled additional insights. Overall, this study contributes empirical data and conclusions from a new context to relationship marketing literature. From a managerial point of view, this study highlights the importance of a good balance between trust and distrust, a strong bond between the boundary spanning managers, and satisfactory communication as major determinants of successful research co-operation between firms and CRIs.