Technology partnership strategies between small and large companies: the case of biotechnology applied to health and clothing in France and Italy.

Summary Since the end of the 1970s, partnership strategies have been increasingly adopted by innovative companies belonging mainly to high-tech sectors. The costs and risks that accompany any innovation activity are nowadays shared. Different effects of complementarity are thus sought in the framework of technological partnerships between small and large companies. Companies positioned on an emerging activity such as biotechnology applied to health essentially seek partnership strategies that make it possible to mitigate the costs of R&D and the technological risks linked to the innovation activity. On the other hand, companies positioned on a mature sector, such as clothing, pursue partnership strategies within the framework of flexibility policies due to the risks emanating from the market. In the context of an innovation system essentially oriented towards process innovation, such as the Italian system, partnership strategies are identified above all with client-supplier relations. In the context of an innovation system essentially oriented towards technological innovation, such as the French system, partnership strategies tend to be more diversified and to be identified with both research and development contracts and privileged client-supplier relationships. The economic theory of innovation has above all highlighted the foundations of technological strategies according to the positioning of the firm in the context of the innovation cycle. In addition, the theory of national innovation systems studies all the interactions that can exist between the actors of innovation and the various intermediary actors, thus allowing to carry out an innovation strategy. This research therefore highlights the different paths that certain theoretical developments could follow to characterize the existence of technological partnership strategies between small and large firms.