Who will join and who will decline: An analysis of factors influencing a firm's decisions to join cooperative research centers

While most cooperative research centers (CRCs) receive funding from the government, maintaining a high level of industrial support is key to the survival for these ventures (e.g., IUCRCs, ERCs, STCs). However, the literature is almost silent on the effectiveness of various recruitment strategies and the decision making processes and evaluation criteria firms use when deciding whether to join or decline participation in a CRC. In this abstract we report findings from a multi-stage project that has involved interviewing center directors about marketing practices and qualitative interviews and a questionnaire-based multivariate predictive study (in progress) of firms that recently made the decision to join or decline participation. Implications for center managers, policy makers and future research are discussed.