The selection of partners in technological alliances projects

The study seeks to understand the factors for selecting partners in technology alliances prevailing in the Brazilian chemical industry. The data comes from two successive stages. Based on the theory of resource-based view (RBV), together with qualitative evidences from a previous study carried out in the Brazilian petrochemical leader (analyzing 20 technological alliances with different kind of partners, and encompassing diverse types of projects - incremental, platforms, radical and basic science), it was possible to identify domains in the exploitation-exploration continuum and generate the conceptual model and the derived research hypotheses to be tested in the quantitative research, using a websurvey for data collection in the Brazilian chemical industry. By using the techniques of Multinomial Logistic Regression and Binomial Logistic Regression, the study outlines a series of relationships determining the most important selection factors depending on the type of partner and type of project. Finally, implications are discussed.