Biotechnology collaborations: does business model matter?

This study investigates how a biotechnology firm’s collaboration incidence is affected by the business model it adopts. Specifically, we compare interfirm collaboration conducted by biopharmaceutical firms adopting the hybrid business model with those using the product-focused business model. The analysis based on 1,820 collaborations conducted by 87 dedicated biopharmaceutical firms suggests that firms adopting the hybrid business model generally engage in more collaboration. They also establish a greater proportion of exploration collaboration. These findings have implications for firm’s positioning using business models.