INWARD TECHNOLOGY LICENSING AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO INTERNAL RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT IN NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT - A CONCEPTUAL-FRAMEWORK

Many marketing practitioners and authors already accept that inward technology licensing (ITL) can be a viable alternative source of new products to internal R&D. Yet, new product development research focuses mainly on internal development with little attention to external methods. Kwaku Atuahene-Gima reviews the small body of literature on ITL and examines the factors that may in influence a firm to adopt ITL as an alternative to internal R&D. Using a conceptual framework to provide additional insights, he argues that the ITL adoption decision is an organizational behavioral response to internal and external environmental stimuli.