NETWORK POSITIONS AND PROPENSITIES TO COLLABORATE - AN INVESTIGATION OF STRATEGIC ALLIANCE FORMATION IN A HIGH-TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY

The paper develops a network-based mapping of the technological positi ons of the firms in an industry and applies this model in a longitudin al study of the formation of alliances between organizations. In the a nalysis, the positions of high-technology firms in their competitive e nvironment are stratified on two dimensions: crowding and prestige. Or ganizations in crowded positions are those that participate in technol ogical segments in which many firms actively innovate, and prestigious firms are those with a track record of developing seminal inventions. The study's principal empirical findings are that firms in crowded po sitions and those with high prestige form alliances at the highest rat es. The statistical analyses, performed on a sample of semiconductor f irms during a six-year period, demonstrate that crowding and prestige predict alliance formations at the firm level (which organizations est ablish the greatest number of alliances) and at the dyad level (which particular pairs of firms choose to collaborate).