Collaborative Research: Government Responses to Network Failures: The Case of the Manufacturing Extension Partnerships

虽然在知识密集型产业中，企业间网络为公平交易提供了越来越重要的替代选择，但众所周知，这种网络很难建立和维护。对于这种合作的来源提出了各种假设，认为它们来自文化、组织和制度因素。本研究试图通过开发和分析中小型企业网络生产公共投入的调查和访谈指标，量化促成合作项目成功的因素的相对重要性——特别关注他们通过联邦政府赞助的制造业扩展伙伴关系提供的服务。智力价值：本研究为美国政府干预促进创新的基本原理的文献做出了贡献。政府干预通常被认为是对市场失灵的回应，代表着使市场更具竞争力的努力。然而，越来越多的文献认为，创新往往发生在不受市场竞争影响的“协作空间”中。本文的研究重点是考察创新过程与创新政策的理论基础之间是否存在不匹配。在一项由美国国家标准与技术研究院赞助的制造业延伸伙伴关系（MEPs）研究中，研究了公共投入对中小企业网络生产的相对重要性。更广泛的影响：该研究产生了一个公开可用的数据集，可用于检验政府投入与网络产出之间的关系。研究结果为经济学、社会学和政治学等不同学科提供了信息。该研究还在研究过程中吸引和训练研究生。

While inter-firm networks provide an increasingly important alternative to arm's length transactions in knowledge-intensive industries, they are notoriously difficult to build and maintain. Various hypotheses have been advanced for the sources of such collaboration, suggesting that they derive from cultural, organizational and institutional factors. This research attempts to quantify the relative importance of the factors contributing to the success of collaboration projects by developing and analyzing survey and interview-based indicators of public inputs to network production among small and mid-sized firms -- with a particular focus on their provision through the Manufacturing Extension Partnerships sponsored by the Federal Government.Intellectual Merit: This research contributes to the literature about the rationale for government intervention to foster innovation in the United States. Government intervention is typically justified as a response to market failure, and represents an effort to make markets more competitive. However, a growing body of literature argues that innovation tends to occur in "collaborative spaces" that are sheltered from market competition. The focus of the research is to examine whether there is a mismatch between the process of innovation and the rationale for innovation policy. The research examines the relative importance of public inputs to network production among small and medium-sized firms in a study of the Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEPs) sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Broader Impact: The research produces a publicly available data set that can be used to examine the relationship between government inputs and network production. The results inform a variety of different disciplines, such as economics, sociology and political science. The study also engages and trains graduate students in the research processes.