Innovative research and development (R&D) is the main drive to construct national competitive advantages and corporate competitiveness. Major developed countries emphasize the connection between technology R&D and industry. According to the data of Academia Sinica, by 2011, R&D funds in Taiwan were 2.94% of the GDP. In a global era of technological competition, industries encounter the challenges of survival and sustainable operations. Thus, enhancing industrial competitiveness by R&D is a path that cannot be neglected by future firms.
This study probed into the causes and motives of enterprises to participate in R&D Consortia, aiming to explore the main motive for enterprises to participate in R&D Consortia subsidized by the government, as well as the performance after joining an R&D Consortia. This paper is organized into eight chapters. Chapter 1 is the Introduction; Chapter 2 presents the literature review; Chapter 3 describes the research method; Chapter 4 states the research definition and hypotheses; Chapter 5 discusses the policies and current situation of R&D Consortia subsidized by the government; Chapter 6 is the analysis of empirical research results; Chapter 7 discusses case studies on R&D Consortia ; and Chapter 8 offers conclusions and suggestions.
The research framework is based on corporate internal factors: 1) corporate scale; 2) time of corporate foundation; 3) experience to participate in consortia ; 4) corporate R&D capability; 5) demand for a labor force; 6) richness of network resources; 7) corporate managers’ personality traits. Corporate external factors: 1) subsidy ratified by government; 2) technical complexity; 3) industrial competition; 4) exclusiveness of cooperative results; 5) multiple backgrounds of consortia members; 6) intellectual assets; 7) new products and services. Motives are included in the analysis. The data were analyzed by SPSS. According to research findings and theories, and empirical results were compared to lead to the conclusions. Based on the research framework and the definitions of research variables upon literature review, this study established 15 hypotheses. Data were collected from 14,922 enterprises in six projects subsidized by government. Consortia members that apply for governmental subsidy as type of consortia are the subjects. The observation values in 491 consortia and 1,668 samples from enterprises in the consortia were screened and acquires for research analysis.
Research design included four dimensions: internal factors, external factors, motive of participation, and performance. There were a total of 15 hypotheses (H1-H15), including 7 hypotheses of internal factors (H1-H7), 7 hypotheses of external factors (H8-H14), and 1 hypothesis of motive (H15). By Pearson correlation, Regression Analysis and ANOVA, this study validated hypotheses and analyzed data by in-depth interviews. According to empirical findings, corporate internal factors and external factors were found as the motive factors of enterprises to participate in R&D Consortia , which influences corporate operational performance. In other words, corporate internal factors and external factors were enterprises’ motives to participate in R&D Consortia . After participating in R&D Consortia , enterprises’ operational performance was enhanced, thus supporting H1-H15.
After validation analysis of hypotheses of enterprises‘ participation in R&D Consortia , this study further validated hypotheses by case study, and found that hypotheses are supported. In addition, 12 characteristics of members of R&D Consortia were analyzed. Finally, research conclusions and suggestions were proposed to serve as reference for governmental public departments, corporate private departments, and future researchers of R&D Consortia .