Research and development resources, coopetitive performance and cooperation: The case of standardization in 3GPP, 2004-2013

This study examines the interdependence between research and development (R&D) resources, coopetitive performance, and extent of cooperation in development-related standardization settings that involve network effects. Coopetitive performance is measured as the firm's influence on the change process of standards. Cooperation is measured as the number of firm technology partners in influencing industry technology standards. From a dataset of 152,959 decisions drawn from the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) change request (CR) database for the period 2004-2013, firm influence on the standardization change process is studied by identifying firm involvement in CR decisions. The study supports the hypothesis that R&D resources are associated with coopetitive performance in innovation-related coopetitive settings with network effects. In addition, for firms that have a stronger dependence on the output of cooperative industry technology development, R&D resources are associated with fewer partners when trying to influence industry technology standards.