Sviluppo di nuovi prodotti e trasferimento di conoscenza inter-impresa. L'utilizzo delle fonti esterne in un'impresa motociclistica

According to a vast part of strategic literature, a firm should ensure a tight control over key resources, both human and technological, as to firmly grasp the drivers of its success. Growth is either achieved through incremental innovation around a very specific resource or capability, or through the acquisition of new firms and their relative resources. The Japanese model, based on extensive use of external sources of supply, posed a serious threat to the widely accepted Williamson’s framework. This organizational structure has quickly been imitated in a number of Western countries, where several firms share the same network of partners to leverage development costs without sacrificing product differentiation. The two firms investigated in this paper push themselves even further, since their long-term collaboration has loose boundaries and no equity ties