Local search and the evolution of technological capabilities

Stuart, Toby E.; Podolny, Joel M.

doi:10.1002/smj.4250171004

Cited by 926 publications

(602 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…23,39], since a broader search increases the likelihood of discovering new and useful knowledge combinations [40]. However, the search process is highly path-dependent and constrained by organizational routines [41], hence leading organizations to search for knowledge locally, i.e., into the neighbor of their existing capabilities [42]. The relationship between searching widely and patent influence has been extensively discussed.…”

Section: Breadth Of Technological Basementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, we rely on patents granted by the USPTO to US firms, hence further reducing the share of examiner citations, which has been proven to be especially high among foreign firms [28]. 6 To control for the fact that older patents have a higher likelihood of being cited by following patents, we considered only those citing patents filed within a five-year time window after the given patent's filing date [42].…”

Section: Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Determinants of patent citations in biotechnology: An analysis of patent influence across the industrial and organizational boundaries

Petruzzelli

Rotolo

Albino

2015

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

147

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The present paper extends the literature investigating key drivers leading certain patents to exert a stronger influence on the subsequent technological developments (inventions) than other ones. We investigated six key determinants, as (i) the use of scientific knowledge, (ii) the breadth of the technological base, (iii) the existence of collaboration in patent development, (iv) the number of claims, (v) the scope, and (vi) the novelty, and how the effect of these determinants varies when patent influence-as measured by the number of forward citations the patent received-is distinguished as within and across the industrial and organizational boundaries. We conducted an empirical analysis on a sample of 5,671 patents granted to 293 US biotechnology firms from 1976 to 2003. Results reveal that the contribution of the determinants to patent influence differs across the domains that are identified by the industrial and organizational boundaries. Findings, for example, show that the use of scientific knowledge negatively affects patent influence outside the biotechnology industry, while it positively contributes to make a patent more relevant for the assignee's subsequent technological developments. In addition, the broader the scope of a patent the higher the number of citations the patent receives from subsequent non-biotechnology patents.This relationship is inverted U-shaped when considering the influence of a patent on inventions granted to other organizations than the patent's assignee. Finally, the novelty of a patent is inverted-U related with the influence the patent exerts on the subsequent inventions granted across the industrial and organizational boundaries.

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Section: Breadth Of Technological Basementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of patent citations in biotechnology: An analysis of patent influence across the industrial and organizational boundaries

Petruzzelli

Rotolo

Albino

2015

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

147

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Despite the market advantages of combining technologies, firms also tend to search for new knowledge locally, i.e., within the current field of expertise of the firm (Stuart and Podolny, 1996), and within the same geographical confinement (Verspagen and Schoenmakers, 2004). Firms often treasure the convenience of technological and geographic proximity in their search process.…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The technological origins of radical inventions

2010

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a b s t r a c tThis paper aims to trace down the origins of radical inventions. In spite of many theoretical discussions on the effect of radical inventions, the specific nature of radical inventions has received much less attention in the theoretical and empirical literature. We try to fill that void by an empirical investigation into the specific origins of radical inventions. We explore this issue by a close examination of 157 individual patents, which are selected from a pool of more than 300,000 patents. In contrast to the conventional wisdom that radical inventions are based less on existing knowledge, we find that they are to a higher degree based on existing knowledge than non-radical inventions. A further result that follows from our analysis is that radical inventions are induced by the recombination over more knowledge domains. The combination of knowledge from domains that might usually not be connected seems to deliver more radical inventions.

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“…Examples include the capability to; offer excellent customer service, develop new products and innovate (Lorenzoni and Lipparini, 1999). Accordingly, capabilities are critical for achieving competitive advantage (Teece et al, 1997;Schoenecker and Cooper, 1998;Stuart and Podolny, 1996).…”

Section: Organisational Capabilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

In search of the drivers of high growth in manufacturing SMEs

2006

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Though considerable attention in the extant literature has been devoted to growth and performance of firms, there is a dearth of research on high growth firms. Furthermore, the majority of literature in this area focuses on large firms while research on high growth small firms is underdeveloped. This paper investigates the drivers of high growth in manufacturing SMEs. Following a number of focus group interviews with six managing directors of manufacturing firms, a number of drivers of high growth were identified and investigated in a sample of 207 manufacturing SMEs. The results of this study indicate that high growth firms place a greater emphasis on external drivers such as strategic orientation, their operating environment and the use of e-commerce compared with firms having static or declining sales. The analysis shows that high growth firms compete largely on the basis of price. While high growth firms have increased their sales by over 30% during the past three years or longer, it is questionable if manufacturing firms can sustain their competitive advantage without recourse to greater research and development, and innovation in the longer term.

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Local search and the evolution of technological capabilities

Cited by 926 publications

References 29 publications

Determinants of patent citations in biotechnology: An analysis of patent influence across the industrial and organizational boundaries

Determinants of patent citations in biotechnology: An analysis of patent influence across the industrial and organizational boundaries

The technological origins of radical inventions

In search of the drivers of high growth in manufacturing SMEs

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