13,365 research outputs found

    Ties that matter:The impact of alliance partner knowledge recombination novelty on knowledge utilization in R&D alliances

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    Whereas extant alliance research tends to consider the knowledge pool of partner firms as a set of independent components, we highlight that alliance partners' components are interconnected. In particular, we introduce the concept of alliance partner knowledge recombination novelty - i.e., the extent to which an alliance partner has created component ties that no other firm within the industry has created - and hypothesize that it has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the focal firm's utilization of the alliance partner's knowledge. We also expect this relationship to be moderated by the focal firm's own knowledge recombination novelty. Analyzing 313 R&D alliance dyads of 70 firms in the fuel cell industry, we find support for the hypothesized inverted U-shaped relationship between an alliance partner's knowledge recombination novelty and the focal firm's knowledge utilization from the alliance partner. However, we do not find support for a moderation effect of the focal firm's knowledge recombination novelty. Based on these findings, we demonstrate the importance of framing alliance partner knowledge pools as sets of interconnected components, where alliance partners' history of knowledge recombination shapes the focal firm's knowledge utilization rates

    Optimization as a design strategy. Considerations based on building simulation-assisted experiments about problem decomposition

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    In this article the most fundamental decomposition-based optimization method - block coordinate search, based on the sequential decomposition of problems in subproblems - and building performance simulation programs are used to reason about a building design process at micro-urban scale and strategies are defined to make the search more efficient. Cyclic overlapping block coordinate search is here considered in its double nature of optimization method and surrogate model (and metaphore) of a sequential design process. Heuristic indicators apt to support the design of search structures suited to that method are developed from building-simulation-assisted computational experiments, aimed to choose the form and position of a small building in a plot. Those indicators link the sharing of structure between subspaces ("commonality") to recursive recombination, measured as freshness of the search wake and novelty of the search moves. The aim of these indicators is to measure the relative effectiveness of decomposition-based design moves and create efficient block searches. Implications of a possible use of these indicators in genetic algorithms are also highlighted.Comment: 48 pages. 12 figures, 3 table

    Jack of All, Master of Some: The Contingent Effect of Knowledge Breadth on Innovation

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    This study investigates how individuals’ knowledge structure affects their new product ideation outcome. Because individuals who possess diverse knowledge can potentially create more novel recombination, broad knowledge has been touted as the key driver of innovation. Yet, a shallow grasp of a wide array of knowledge might be sufficient to generate novel ideas but are insufficient to produce innovative ideas that should also be useful and economically feasible. Deep knowledge complements broad knowledge by aiding individuals to effectively combine diverse set of knowledge and to identify constraints of potential solutions. Consequently, individuals with both broad and deep knowledge are expected to outperform those who only possess broad knowledge in innovation tasks. Our findings in a new product idea crowdsourcing community are consistent with our predictions: knowledge breadth feeds into novelty of ideas, but its effect on usefulness and innovativeness of ideas is contingent on the presence of deep knowledge

    Network Embeddedness and the Exploration of Novel Technologies: Technological Distance, Betweenness Centrality and Density

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    In this paper we analyze the innovative performance of alliance networks as a function of the technological distance between partners, a firm's network position (centrality) and total network density.We study how these three elements of an alliance network, apart and in combination, affect the 'twin tasks' in exploration, namely novelty creation on the one hand and its efficient absorption on the other hand.For an empirical test, we study technology-based alliance networks in the pharmaceutical, chemical and automotive industry.innovation networks;cognitive distance;centrality;density
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