Examining the conditions for signing a strategic alliance contract: a configurational approach to the biotechnology sector

Strategic alliances in the biotechnology sector are key to achieving the sustainable development goals of the Agenda 2030 and to boosting technology transfer, value creation and firms’ survival. This paper focuses on a momentum that has scarcely been analysed in the literature; from the moment a firm decides to form an alliance, to the moment the contract is signed. There are many combinations of antecedents that may influence the pre-alliance phase and lead either to the final signing of the alliance or to its cancellation. We base on the transaction cost theory and analyse how different combinations of possible impediments and firm-specific attributes affect the final contract signature. We use a qualitative comparative analysis on 69 firms in the Spanish biotechnology sector that belong to the Spanish Bioindustry Association (AseBio). The results help to identify and understand the different scenarios that may lead biotech firms to sign the strategic alliance contract.