This study examines how competitive and cooperative relationships within R&D consortia influence member firms’ innovation output. We propose a U-shaped relationship between the presence of market competitors for a member firm and the firm's joint R&D output with other consortium members, and examine how the relationship is mediated by interactions with other members at the firm level and moderated by collaborative efforts at the consortium level. Using a unique sample of 320 firms from 52 R&D consortia in China, we find support for our predictions. This multi-level study extends our understanding of competition and cooperation in multi-party networks and provides insights for creating a balance between the two forces that is conducive to innovation.

This article provides background information on public and non-profit sector innovation in the past thirty years in the West as well as in China. We summarized and commented on the articles in this issue, which document cases of public and non-profit sector innovation in China and theorize their significance. These cases tell vivid stones about how Chinese organizations innovate and also point out the importance of the role of government in initiating or constraining these innovations. We find, through the review of these studies, that China's public and non-profit sector organization innovation experiences carry some important messages about the unique features of China's public and non-profit organizations that should not be ignored while studying changes in China.

Managing a successful research team involves a variety of activities and potential issues. In this article, we discuss these issues based on our experience of having worked together for 20 years with regular team meetings that include Ph.D. and undergraduate students and occasionally other faculty colleagues. We attempt to describe the challenges that occur, including some ethical issues, and distil the knowledge we have gained over the years. We pose and answer nine questions about our team processes and procedures and end with a brief summary of key learning.

This article suggests that the lack of meaningful collaboration between the state and NGOs in China is not solely a result of the state seeking to restrict the development of the sector, or the fear of a potential opposing actor to the state; instead, interviews with NGOs in Beijing and Shanghai suggest that a lack of meaningful engagement between the state and NGOs can be partially attributed to isomorphic pressures within state–NGO relations, and insufficient epistemic awareness of NGO activities on the part of the state. In fact, the evidence suggests that once epistemic awareness is achieved by the state, it will have a stronger desire to interact with NGOs – with the caveat that the state will seek to utilize the material power of NGOs, rather than their symbolic, interpretive or geographical capital.