Business-to-business External Sources of Technology (BEST) and innovation : a dynamic portfolio approach

Especially in complex technological contexts, companies engage in external relationships and use Business-to-business External Sources of Technology (BEST) in order to innovate. The way this relationship has to be organized (should it be a merger or an alliance?) is a critical strategic choice. Despite the relevance of the above decision, the topic has not been often addressed by the literature and the existing guidelines provide little support to decision makers. Adopting a Dynamic Portfolio approach, the present papers designs a decision system where the governance modes is not conceived as a simple binary choice (either M&A or SA) but as their balance and integration within a dynamic portfolio. In doing so, the present works contributes to the literature releasing the limitations of previous studies and provide support to managerial practice.