Relational Capability and Strategic Alliances for Research and Development

ABSTRACT Context the Brazilian Agricultural Research Organization has played an important role in research and development to generate innovations. Many of these innovations are generated through research and development alliances with external partners. This stimulates the potential for relationship capability, i.e., a strategic management construct of alliances with procedural proposals that have not yet been verified empirically. Objective the general aim of the study was to explore how relationship capability processes can help to generate innovations. Methods qualitative research was conducted using the case study method, based on interviews, document analysis and observation. Three strategic research and development alliances involving the Brazilian Agricultural Research Organization and external partners constituted the analysis corpus. Results the principal contribution to the advance of knowledge was an interorganizational model for generating innovations based on strategic research and development alliances, founded on the empirical evidence of the relationship capability processes of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Organization and its external partners. Conclusion this new model provides greater clarity regarding how a public research company absorbs knowledge and unprecedented evidence of the processes of institutionalization and the overflow of relationship capability. JEL Code: L1, L2, O32.