Research Policy 33 (2004) 17–40 Determining factors in the success of R&D cooperative agreements between firms and research organizations Eva M. Mora-Valentin a,∗ , Angeles Montoro-Sanchez b , Luis A. Guerras-Martin a a Facultad de Ciencias Jur´ ıdicas y Sociales, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Paseo de los Artilleros s/n, 28032 Madrid, Spain b Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Campus de Somosaguas, 28223 Madrid, Spain Received 31 October 2002; received in revised form 7 May 2003; accepted 14 May 2003 Abstract The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of a series of contextual and organizational factors on the success of 800 cooperative agreements between Spanish firms and research organizations, run between 1995 and 2000. Findings show that the most outstanding factors are, in the case of firms, commitment, previous links, definition of objectives and conflict, whereas for research organizations previous links, communication, commitment, trust and the partners’ reputation are more relevant. These study not only provides a comprehensive theoretical model to analyze the success of these agreements but is useful both for improving management of cooperation and for fostering collaboration both at a national an international level. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: R&D cooperation; Cooperation between firms and research organizations; Success in cooperative agreements; Organizational and contextual factors 1. Introduction The improvement in the relationship between sci- ence and technology, the integration of science and industry, the appearance of industries based on sci- ence, the use of science as a means to generate com- petitive advantages on the part of the firms, as well as the globalization of the economy and international- ization of technology, are some of the reasons which justify cooperative relationships between firms and research organizations (Ahn, 1995). This subject is ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +34-91-488-77-91; fax: +34-91-488-77-80. E-mail address: clarines@fcjs.urjc.es (E.M. Mora-Valentin). analyzed in several papers 1 (Chen, 1994; Ahn, 1995; Mansfield, 1995; Nieto, 1998; Bayona, 1999; Bayona et al., 2000, 2001; Cassier, 1999; Acosta and Modrego, 2000, 2001). For the purpose of the present paper this kind of cooperation can be defined as the link which joins basic research (carried out at universities, laboratories 1 Despite the fact literature uses the term ‘firm–university co- operative relationships’ to refer to this kind of agreements, we find it more appropriate to substitute the term ‘university’ for that of ‘research organizations’, the latter being a wider concept which includes different types of organizations such as state re- search centres, universities, research associations and innovation and technology centres. 0048-7333/$ – see front matter © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0048-7333(03)00087-8