Managing Partner Portfolios in the Biotechnology Industry

Resource-constrained biotechnology firms need to ally with a portfolio of diverse outside partner organizations, including pharmaceutical firms, biotechnology firms, universities, and research institutes. These diverse partner portfolios open access to a broader pool of resources, capabilities, and knowledge that provide the foundation for firm innovation. At the same time, it is also challenging for biotechnology firms to manage such a diverse set of outside partner organizations.


Aim of project:
Based on database and survey data, this project examines the successful composition and management of biotechnology firms’ partner portfolios in order to foster firm innovation.

Principal investigator: Prof. Dr. Indre Maurer
Team members: Niklas Dreymann, M.Sc., Dr. René Abel, Dr. Philip Degener
Project partner: Prof. Dr. Suleika Bort, University of Passau

Selected publications:

  • Abel, R.; Bort, S.; Maurer, I.; Weber, C.E.; Wilhelm, H. (2020). Tensions in portfolios of temporary organizations: How project portfolio maturity attenuates the negative effects of portfolio ambidexterity. Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 67: 209-231.

  • Degener, P.; Maurer, I., Bort, S. (2018). Alliance portfolio diversity and innovation: The interplay of portfolio coordination capability and proactive partner selection capability. Journal of Management Studies, 55(8): 1386-1422.