Between Promise and Performance: Science and Technology Policy Implementation through Governance Networks
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This research analyzes the effects of U.S. science and technology policy on a global strategic alliance network for research and development. During the mid-1980s the U.S. high-technology sector appeared to be collapsing. Industry leaders and policymakers moved to support and protect U.S. firms by creating a program called Sematech. While many scholars regard Sematech as a success, how the program succeeded remains unclear. This study examines the role of an intermediate network mechanism residing between policy and performance. The general proposition is that governments might act to enhance inter-organizational cooperation and firm performance for public ends. This study combines network analysis and longitudinal regression techniques to test the effects of policy on firm network position and technological performance in an unbalanced panel of semiconductor firms between 1986 and 2001. This research suggests governments might achieve policy through inter-organizational innovations aimed at the development and administration of robust governance networks.
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