Enablers and barriers to university and high technology SME partnerships

While technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face many challenges, effective collaboration with universities can provide access to ideas and resources that can be important determinants of firm performance and growth. A case study approach is used to explore SMEs in the electroni...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Small enterprise research 2011-09, Vol.18 (1), p.2-18
Main Authors: Collier, Alan, Gray, Brendan J., Ahn, Mark J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorptive capacity
Alliances
Collaboration
Colleges & universities
commercialisation
Commercialization
Competition
Competitive advantage
Econometric models
Economic aspects
Entrepreneurs
Government policy
High technology
Human capital
Industrial management
Innovations
Management
Partnership
Product development
R&D
Research & development
Small & medium sized enterprises-SME
small and medium-sized enterprises
Small business
Statistical analysis
Studies
Technological change
Technology transfer
technology transfer office
Universities
Universities and colleges
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Summary:While technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face many challenges, effective collaboration with universities can provide access to ideas and resources that can be important determinants of firm performance and growth. A case study approach is used to explore SMEs in the electronics industry in Brisbane, Australia, to identify the enablers and barriers to firms' research partnerships with universities. The results show that collaborations with research entities, particularly universities, have been important to each of the five companies that are the focus of this study. Firms appear to select university partners based principally on expertise and social capital (i.e. the specialized research skills that universities have as well as the personal relationships that company staff have with particular university faculty). The main barriers to improved research partnerships between universities and SMEs relate principally to differences in organisational culture (e.g., differing aims, levels of formality, value and risk perceptions, temporal concerns). This study extends the literature on key factors that drive the interactions between technology-based SMEs and universities, as well as the routes through which these interactions develop.
ISSN:1321-5906
1175-0979
DOI:10.5172/ser.18.1.2