Abbreviations and Annotations

1. REU1: Research Universities yes (1), not (2)

*Research University is defined by whether the partner university is listed in the ‘985/211’ programme of China. For the full list of ‘985/211’ universities, please visit: http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A22/s7065/200512/t20051223_82762.html 
http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A22/s7065/200612/t20061206_128833.html

2. LOCAL1: Local Universities yes (1), not (2)

*Local universities refer to universities that located in the same province with their partner firms
 
3. New1: New firm yes 1, not (2)

*New firms refer to firms aged below 15 years (Ismail et al. 2010)

Ismail, A. I., Rose, R. C., Abdullah, H. and Uli, J., 2010. The relationship between organisational competitive advantage and performance moderated by the age and size of firms. Asian Academy of Management Journal, 15 (2), 157-173.

4. Hightech industry1: high-tech industry yes (1), not (2)

*high-tech industry is defined by the ‘High-Tech Industry Classification, 2017’, issued by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics. For more information, please visit:
 http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/tjbz/201812/t20181218_1640081.html

5. Size1: SME yes (1), large firms (2)

*Firms’ size refers to the number of employees. According to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, firms with fewer than 1,000 employees are classified as Small and Medium size enterprises. For more information, please visit:
http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/tjbz/201801/t20180103_1569357.html

6. Ac: Absorptive capacity
7. Rc: Relational collaboration
8. Cc: Contractual collaboration
9. Ti: Technological innovation 
10. Mi: Management innovation
11. Pm: Performance

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