Effect of efficient triple-helix collaboration on organizations

Abstract

Triple Helix (TH) theory, which emphasizes synergy between universities, industries, and government, has not been tested empirically from the perspective of differences in R&D efficiency. We examine how firms’ TH strategies affect R&D efficiency and how synergy varies according to stage of growth. First, we classify the firms into four groups by TH strategy. We estimate each firm's R&D efficiency and compare each group's technical gap ratio relative to the meta-frontier. The results show that synergy does exist in long-term R&D efficiency and potential. Discussion of the heterogeneous effects of TH strategies according to the firms’ stage of growth follows. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.