Who I Am and How I Contract: The Effect of Contractors’ Roles and Responsibilities on the Evolution of Contract Structure in University-Industry Research Agreements
- When?
- Thursday 21 June 2012, 14:30 to 16:00
- Where?
- 66MS03, Surrey Business School
- Open to:
- Staff, Students, Public
- Speaker:
- Dr Beverly Tyler
Surrey Business School is proud to present Dr Beverly Tyler, Poole Business School, North Carolina State University, USA, to deliver a seminar on 'Who I Am and How I Contract: The Effect of Contractors’ Roles and Responsibilities on the Evolution of Contract Structure in University-Industry Research Agreements'.
Abstract
In this paper, we explore how contract structure is influenced by contractors’ organizational roles and responsibilities in cross-boundary innovation-based relationships. We hypothesize that as scientists gain contracting experience with an exchange partner, their focus on knowledge creation supports the establishment of a relationship based on technical competence, behavioral experience, and operational routines which cause subsequent contracts to become less detailed. We also hypothesize that contract administrators, because of their focus on knowledge protection (mitigating opportunism and enforcement), primarily accumulate joint governance experience and establish negotiation routines which cause subsequent contracts to become more detailed. Analyzing the monitoring terms and intellectual property terms of corporate sponsored university research agreements, we find support for both of our theoretically-grounded hypotheses.
Biography
Beverly B. Tyler, Associate Professor at North Carolina State University (NCSU), received her PhD from Texas A&M University (Chair Jay Barney) where she focused on the strategic management process, top executive decision making, and organizational information processing. During her time at Indiana University, she extended her research to include cooperative capabilities, and knowledge and technology management. More recently at NCSU she has applied cognitive, organizational, and relationship management lenses to the domains of new products in market oriented firms, supply chain management, international investment decisions, and sponsored research relationships. Although Beverly is primarily a behavioral theorist, she values multiple theoretical perspectives and uses a multi-method approach. She has used policy capturing experimental designs, secondary data analysis of databases, codification of documents, interviews, mail surveys, and cognitive mapping methods. Dr. Tyler’s research has appeared in the Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, Journal of Operations Management, and Journal of Supply Chain Management, among others.
