Dear colleagues,
We invite you to participate in a PDW on "Exploring Future Research Opportunities in External Knowledge Search and Innovation" to be held at the DRUID conference on June 15, 2015.
Organizers:
Jason Li-Ying, Associate Professor, Technical University of Denmark (yinli@dtu.dk)
Christoph Grimpe, Associate Professor, Copenhagen Business School (cg.ino@cbs.dk)
Wolfgang Sofka, Associate Professor, Copenhagen Business School (ws.smg@cbs.dk)
Confirmed panel speakers:
Keld Laursen (Copenhagen Business School)
Aija Leiponen (Cornell University)
Elena Novelli (City University London, Cass Business School)
Intended max. number of participants: 20
Abstract:
A central part of technological innovation for industrial firms involves searching for new knowledge and recombining it with firms' existing technologies. Extant literature on firms' search has successfully documented the benefits of search for achieving innovation performance and adaptation to change (Katila & Ahuja, 2002; Laursen & Salter, 2006, 2014; Leiponen & Helfat, 2010; Grimpe & Sofka, 2009; Li-Ying et al., 2014). Based on the insights from prior literature in the field, this PDW seeks to explore a number of new directions for future research on firms' search. Hence, in this workshop, we will pinpoint three subthemes as the basis for discussion and together with the collective wisdom of the participants hopefully outline feasible research approaches addressing these three potential directions and explore new research directions. The three subthemes are as follows:
(1) Relationships among relationships: Firms' search often involves multiple channels of collaboration, e.g., alliances and joint ventures, licensing, crowd-sourcing and user innovation, or hiring of key employees. Yet, extant literature has remained rather silent about how a focal firm's relationships with external partners are related to each other and how variance across the relationships with different types of partners could possibly affect the generation of relational rents.
(2) Beyond search breadth and depth in technological perspective: Most prior research focuses on the technological dimension of firms' search, i.e. technological relatedness or the type of knowledge sources. Besides the technological dimension, however, search also involves a geographical and a temporal dimension. Their relationships with the technological dimension have remained an understudied field of research.
(3) Tradeoffs between search and appropriation: Externally obtained knowledge resources are not necessarily valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable. This subtheme focuses on how the increasing availability of external knowledge, e.g. through collaborations or markets for technology, influences firm strategies to capture value.
Each of the subthemes will be briefly presented by a panelist. We invite interested PDW participants to submit an abstract outlining a paper project that broadly fits within one of the three subthemes. The paper projects will be discussed at round tables with other participants and the panelists. After the round-table discussion, a synthesis of the results will be presented in a plenary session.
Abstracts should be submitted to Jason Li-Ying (yinli@dtu.dk) by June 8, 2015. Participation is also possible without submitting an abstract but participants should indicate in which subtheme they are particularly interested. Since the number of participants is limited, preference will be given to those having submitted an abstract.
Tentative program:
9.00-11.00 on June 15, 2015
Time allocation | Activities |
10 min | Welcome and introduction (goals and expected outcomes) |
30 min | Keynote speech by panelists on the state-of-the-art literature and the three subthemes |
50 min | Parallel roundtables to discuss suggested future research directions of the subthemes – each led by a chair |
30 min (10 min per subtheme) | Plenary presentation of key outcomes |
Total: 120 min | |
References:
Katila, R. and Ahuja, G. (2002). Something old, something new: A longitudinal study of search behavior and new product introduction. Academy of Management Journal, 45, 1183–1194.
Laursen, K. and Salter, A. (2006). Open for innovation: The role of openness in explaining innovation performance among UK manufacturing firms. Strategic Management Journal, 27, 131–150.
Laursen, K. and Salter, A. (2014). The paradox of openness: Appropriability, external search and collaboration Research Policy, 43, 867–878.
Leiponen, A. and Helfat, C. E. (2010). Innovation objectives, knowledge sources, and the benefits of breadth. Strategic Management Journal, 31, 224-236.
Li-Ying, J., Wang, Y., & Salomo, S. (2014). An inquiry on external technology search through patent in-licensing and firms' technological innovations: Evidence from China. R&D Management, 44(1): 53-74.
Grimpe, C. and Sofka, W. (2009). Search patterns and absorptive capacity: Low-and high-technology sectors in European countries. Research Policy, 38, 495-506.
Dr. Christoph Grimpe
Associate Professor
Editor-in-Chief, Industry and Innovation
Copenhagen Business School
Dept. Innovation and Organizational Economics
Phone: +45-3815-2530
christoph@cbs.dk
http://www.cbs.dk/en/staff/cgino
http://explore.tandfonline.com/page/bes/ciai-free-access