Revisiting the Dynamics of Knowledge Spillover in Interfirm Alliances: Studies on Learning and Protection of Proprietary Knowledge in International Settings

This dissertation studies how firms cope with new challenges in absorbing and protecting knowledge from alliance partners. Chapter one examines how firms from emerging economies that assumed the “student” role in their prior alliances reverse roles and transition to the “teacher” role, while learning how to protect their own knowledge from spillover to prospective partners. It reveals that firms vicariously learn their partners’ knowledge protection practices to improve their own knowledge protection in subsequent alliances. Thereby it shows that learning and knowledge protection are interdependent activities not only within the same alliance but also across successive alliances. Chapter two studies how national innovation systems in the home countries of firms and their partners, respectively, influence firms’ knowledge acquisition from alliance partners. Whereas prior studies separately consider national systems and alliances, this study juxtaposes these aspects, showing that differences in national innovation systems help explain variability in firms’ learning. Finally, chapter three examines how knowledge spillover to an alliance partner can enable the firm to gain value as it observes its partner’s use of the spilled knowledge. It demonstrates that knowledge spillovers to partners can facilitate learning, as long as these spillovers do not become excessive, and if the partner recombines the firm’s spilled knowledge in non-redundant ways. Together, these studies contribute to the literature on learning in alliances by offering a new understanding of the dynamics of knowledge accumulation and protection.