On the duality of competition and collaboration: network-based knowledge relations in the biotechnology industry

Abstract This paper focuses on organizational innovation within knowledge-intensive firms, exemplified by the biotechnology industry, and pinpoints the interorganizational network as an important mechanism facilitating innovation and the growth of organizational knowledge in such firms. It is argued that a complex structural and process investigation of different collaborative and competitive forms can help us to understand the adaptability dimension in the behavior of knowledge-intensive firms. The use of a flexible prism methodology is suggested for exploring the competition/collaboration duality. Such an approach can help us to trace interchangeability between the two halves of the duality. This phenomenon is described in greater detail in the concluding section of the paper, where positive and negative externalities of collaboration and competition in network-based knowledge relations are illustrated.

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