When does knowledge acquisition in R&D alliances increase new product development? The moderating roles of technological relatedness and product-market competition

In studying the performance consequences of research and development (R&D) alliances, one stream of research has concentrated on the acquisition of partners' technological knowledge whereas another has focused on firms' new product development outcomes. Bridging these two research streams, this study directly connects knowledge acquisition through R&D alliances to new product development and examines when R&D alliances enable firms to apply acquired technological knowledge in the product domain. Using longitudinal and multisource data on a sample of firms engaged in R&D alliances in the information technology industry, I find that knowledge acquisition is on average positively associated with firms' numbers of new products. However, I also find that knowledge acquisition is substantially more beneficial for new product development both when firms and their partners are active in similar technology domains and when they operate in distinct product markets.