| Evidence suggests that public research universities, especially land grant institutions, can be instrumental in supporting a new kind of economic vitality. Meanwhile, companies that locate a business on a university campus are willing to pay a premium, because locating their business within close proximity to a university and its resources provides value to the business. This collaborative process of companies working closely with universities, the essence of strategic alliance theory, allows for interactive consumption of intellectual assets. These collaborations can be quite resource-intensive and can be better managed by finding ways to make the process more efficient.; Accordingly, a qualitative study was conducted to determine why companies are interested in locating on the Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University in support of a strategic alliance between the university and a cadre of local economic development agencies. Companies locate on the campus for the opportunities presented in the strategic alliance that has been established by the campus. They expect to invest in and form many of their own alliances that intersect and are supported by that which is presented by the alliance of the campus. They cannot necessarily specify the opportunities that they expect, but they are committed to investing the premium in the price to locate on the campus and in additional resources to make these alliances real. In exchange, they expect a reciprocal investment from the university in the resources it devotes to ever-expanding and more robust alliance-building.; The companies that are located on the campus in order to take advantage of this bi-lateral proposition have consistent core values of innovation, adaptation, and creativity. Because of these core values, investing in the potential for expanded innovation through a strategic alliance with Centennial Campus is a cost of doing business. The expected benefit of this investment includes the obvious opportunity of shared intellectual capital and the equally important opportunity presented by the networked support of an entrepreneurial community. |
