Country—specific advantage and international cooperation

Abstract This paper tests the hypothesis that country‐specific advantage embedded in firms of a particular nationality is a motivation for international interfirm cooperation. A sample of domestic and international cooperative relationships formed by Japanese firms in the commercialization of biotechnology is used to identify factors which differentiate domestic from foreign partners. The findings support our hypothesis that country‐specific advantage is a significant variable in explaining differences between cooperative relationships with partners of different countries. The results of this study indicate that interfirm cooperation has implications for the international competitiveness of both firms and nations in high technology industries.