WHICH UNIVERSITY TO PARTNER WITH: AN INVESTIGATION INTO PARTNER SELECTION MOTIVES AMONG SMALL INNOVATIVE FIRMS

摘要

The paper explores small innovative firms' motives for selecting university partners. As well as risk-reducing, cost-reducing, and value creating motives that are established in the literature, "enabling" is proposed as a fourth motive, which asserts that firms select university partners that enable the firm to remain flexible and adaptable in commercialising early-stage innovations.