TY - JOUR
T1 - Ambition is nothing without focus
T2 - Compensating for negative transfer of experience in R&D
AU - Ghosh, A.
AU - Martin, Xavier
AU - Pennings, J.M.
AU - Wezel, F.C.
N1 - Ghosh, Anindya, Xavier Martin, Johannes M. Pennings and Filippo C. Wezel. 2014. “Ambition is nothing without focus: Compensating for negative transfer of experience in R&D.” Organization Science, volume 25 issue 2, pp. 572-590.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Organizations create high-impact inventions when they combine disparate strands of technology in their corporate research and development. We theorize that when undertaking complex inventive search characterized by high breadth, i.e., drawing on multiple diverse technology components, an organization’s propensity toward high-impact inventions depends on its stock of experience with recombining such components and on the focus of its inventive search. Building on learning transfer theory, we argue that the complexity and causal ambiguity of higher-breadth projects is such that experience with similar inventive search will be a poorer guide, comparatively reducing their inventive impact; however, this negative effect can be attenuated by the degree of focus of an organization’s contemporaneous inventive search. Using a longitudinal data set of patents from the photographic imaging industry, we find support for our predictions.
AB - Organizations create high-impact inventions when they combine disparate strands of technology in their corporate research and development. We theorize that when undertaking complex inventive search characterized by high breadth, i.e., drawing on multiple diverse technology components, an organization’s propensity toward high-impact inventions depends on its stock of experience with recombining such components and on the focus of its inventive search. Building on learning transfer theory, we argue that the complexity and causal ambiguity of higher-breadth projects is such that experience with similar inventive search will be a poorer guide, comparatively reducing their inventive impact; however, this negative effect can be attenuated by the degree of focus of an organization’s contemporaneous inventive search. Using a longitudinal data set of patents from the photographic imaging industry, we find support for our predictions.
KW - Technology recombination
KW - Organizational learning
KW - Organizational inventive focus
KW - Patent citations
KW - Photographic imaging industry
U2 - 10.1287/orsc.2013.0845
DO - 10.1287/orsc.2013.0845
M3 - Article
SN - 1047-7039
VL - 25
SP - 572
EP - 590
JO - Organization Science
JF - Organization Science
IS - 2
ER -