Critical Success Factors of Strategic University-Industry Collaborations in Malaysia: A Dyadic Approach

This research has examined the various critical success factors that contribute to successful university-industry collaborations (UICs) in Malaysia. Based on the literature review, the tentative suggested success factors include mutual trust, rewards and benefits, communication, commitment and leadership of top management, performance measurement system, characteristics of individual
collaborator, governmental support, and intellectual property. Through adopting nested, mixed research strategy with the application of "dyadic" approach, participants from university and industry have been interviewed and surveyed. This research has discovered that there are similarities and differences between the success factors that encouraged successful collaborations between university
and industry counterparts. From the eight critical success factors analysed, rewards and benefits, mutual trust, and communication are ranked the highest by university and industry respondents. Research findings delineate the
importance of personal satisfaction/recognition in motivating the involvement of individuals in UIC especially in situations of not being part of promotional requirements for academic. Successful UICs are fundamentally driven by
individuals rather than organisations or institutions. Governmental support and funding are inevitable in stimulating CIIC and nurturing the research culture in a
developing country. All success factors need to be converged to maintain a successful collaborative relationship. Hence, the main contributions of this
research are: (i) contribution to policy-making strategies in Malaysia; (ii) contribution to the body of knowledge in investigating the success factors critical in successful relationship between profit-oriented organisations and non-profit knowledge-based institutions in Malaysia; and (iii) contribution to the development of "One-plus-one Equals One" relational concept in collaborative relationships.