Strategic technology sourcing in corporate ventures: A study of Taiwanese pharmaceutical firms

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategic technology outsourcing of corporate ventures from an integrated perspective. Design/methodology/approach - The proposed model argues that technology sourcing modes are jointly determined by the technological regime, industry-specific factors and resource-based view (RBV), as well as firm-specific factors. Four Taiwanese top publicly traded pharmaceutical companies dedicated to biotechnology are studied. Findings - This paper demonstrates that firms most likely to outsource technology are characterized by the following technological regime factors: reliant on external sources of innovation, tight IPR protection, path independent from the existing technology trajectory, less complexity, easy to codify and having resource-based (RB) factors: irrelevant to the core competence, weak complementary assets, and autonomous innovation. Practical implications - Current approaches generally focus on technology sourcing with a single strategic theory. New venture managers can apply the list of four industry-specific factors and three firm-specific factors of sourcing technologies to determine the appropriate sourcing modes (internal vs internal). Originality/value - There has been little research on how technology sourcing can be done from a holistic, strategic angle. This paper demonstrates that technology sourcing strategy could be properly done by integrating multi-levels, industry, firm and governance factors in a coordinated plan.