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

虽然公司间网络为知识密集型行业的正常交易提供了一种日益重要的替代办法，但众所周知，这种网络很难建立和维持。 对于这种合作的来源提出了各种假设，表明它们来自文化、组织和体制因素。本研究试图通过开发和分析中小企业网络生产的公共投入的调查和访谈指标来量化有助于合作项目成功的因素的相对重要性-特别关注通过联邦政府赞助的制造业扩展伙伴关系提供的公共投入。这项研究有助于文献的理由，政府干预，以促进创新在美国。 政府干预通常被认为是对市场失灵的一种反应，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“协作空间”，是从市场竞争庇护。 研究的重点是审查创新过程与创新政策的理论基础之间是否存在不匹配。 该研究探讨了由国家标准与技术研究所赞助的制造业扩展伙伴关系（MEP）的研究中，中小型企业之间的网络生产的公共投入的相对重要性。更广泛的影响：该研究产生了一个公开的数据集，可用于研究政府投入和网络生产之间的关系。 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参与和培训研究生。

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.