22 research outputs found
Inertia, Knowledge Sources and Diversity in Collaborative Problem-solving
Innovation is at the core of firms’ competitiveness. External knowledge is increasingly
leveraged in the efforts to increase innovation performance by solving innovation related
problems and thereby developing new technology, products or services. Using internal
knowledge sources can be beneficial when pursuing minor performance improvements in
existing technologies. However, reliance on internal knowledge sources carries a risk of
organizational inertia related to problem understanding and solution development in the
shape of path-dependencies and preferences for exploitation and reapplication of existing
knowledge. Such inertia may imbue innovation processes related to the development of
new technologies with reduced novelty and an inability to recognize alternative and
potentially more attractive solutions. As a result, over-reliance on internal knowledge
sources is likely to inhibit the ability to solve problems and reduce innovation
performance related to the development of new technology. In contrast, a growing stream
of research shows the positive effect on problem-solving and innovation performance
from drawing on diverse knowledge sources outside the firm. Through collaborative
efforts involving universities, customers, competitors and suppliers in problem-solving
firms can gain complementary perspectives, insights and technological knowledge as they
pursue the development of innovative technologies
The Influence of Strategic Interest Alignment on External Knowledge Search
This paper analyzes how external search is affected by strategic interest alignment among knowledge sources. I focus
on misalignment arising from the heterogeneous effects of disruptive technologies by analyzing the influence of
incumbents on 2,855 non-incumbents? external knowledge search efforts. The efforts most likely to solve innovation
problems obtained funding from the European Commission?s 7th Framework Program (2007-2013). The results show
that involving incumbents improves search in complementary technologies, while demoting it when strategic interests
are misaligned in disruptive technologies. However, incumbent sources engaged in capability reconfiguration to
accommodate disruption improve search efforts in disruptive technologies. The paper concludes that the value of
external sources is contingent on more than their knowledge. Specifically, interdependence of sources in search gives
rise to influence from individual strategic interests on the outcomes. More generally, this points to the need for
understanding the two-way influence of sources, rather than viewing external search as one-way knowledge accessing
Decreased fertility rates in 9639 women diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease: a United Kingdom population-based cohort study
Background: Clinical studies have reported reduced fertility in women with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Aim: To compare fertility rates in women with IBD to those in women without IBD and assess whether the relative fertility differed following IBD diagnosis, flares and surgery.
Methods: Women aged 15-44 years in 1990-2010 were identified from a UK primary care database. We estimated overall and age-specific fertility rates by 5-year age bands for women with and without IBD. We used Poisson regression to calculate adjusted fertility rate ratios (AFRR), adjusted for age, smoking and socioeconomic deprivation.
Results: There were 46.2 live births per 1000 person-years [95% confidence interval (95% CI); 44.6-47.9] in 9639 women with IBD and 49.3 (95% CI 49.2-49.5) in 2 131 864 without (AFRR: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.89-0.96). Excluding periods of contraception use, the AFRR was 0.99 (95% CI: 0.95-1.03). Before diagnosis, the AFRR for women with ulcerative colitis (UC) was 1.07 (95% CI: 0.99-1.16) and was 0.88 (95% CI: 0.81-0.97) for women with CD. After diagnosis, AFRRs were 0.87 (95% CI: 0.82-0.94) for CD and 0.92 (95% CI: 0.86-1.00) for UC. The fertility rate was lower following flares (AFRR: 0.70; 95% CI: 0.59-0.82) or surgery (AFRR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.77-0.92). Women with pouch and non-pouch surgery had similar overall fertility though the reduction after surgery was greater for pouches (AFRR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.23-0.99).
Conclusions: Women with Crohn's disease have marginally lower fertility rates. These rates decreased following flares and surgical interventions. Fertility rates returned almost to normal when women were not prescribed contraception but the reduction following surgical intervention remained. As the lifetime effect of pouch vs. nonpouch surgery on fertility is small, the reduction post-pouch surgery should be interpreted with caution