Absorptive capacity and the efficiency of research partnerships

The paper advances the hypothesis that research partnerships expand a firm's absorptive capacity. The paper juxtaposes the multimarket contact of firms with their patent cross-citations to provide a test of the absorptive capacity hypothesis in general and an indirect test of the hypothesis that research partnerships expand absorptive capacity. The findings support the hypotheses. In the context of those findings, the paper discusses the role for public policy toward research partnerships.