Collaborative Agreements and R&D Intensity
This paper provides evidence showing that collaborative agreements in the IT industry contribute to decrease the R&D intensity of the largest firms. This is particularly true for acquisitions (as opposed to alliances, consortia and joint ventures) and for the mixed agreements (i.e. with a sales, marketing and technological content).
Link
http://www.solvay.edu/EN/Research/Bernheim/documents/WP-CEB05-007econ_letters_CollaborativeagreementsandR_v5.pdf