TY  - JOUR
AU  - Liebeskind,Julia Porter
AU  - Oliver,Amalya Lumerman
AU  - Zucker,Lynne G.
AU  - Brewer,Marilynn B.
TI  - Social Networks, Learning, and Flexibility: Sourcing Scientific Knowledge in New Biotechnology Firms
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5320
PY  - 1995
Y2  - October 1995
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5320
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5320.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Lynne G. Zucker
Departments of Sociology & Public Policy
UCLA
Box 951551
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1551
Tel: 310/825-9155
Fax: 310/454-2748
E-Mail: zucker@ucla.edu
AB  - We examine how two highly successful new biotechnology firms (NBFs) source their most critical input -- scientific knowledge.  We find that scientists at the two NBFs enter into large numbers of collaborative research efforts with scientists at other organizations, especially universities.  Formal market contracts are rarely used to govern these exchanges of scientific knowledge.  Our findings suggest that the use of boundary-spanning social networks by the two NBFs increases both their learning and their flexibility in ways that would not be possible within a self-contained hierarchical organization.
ER  -