How does a company’s existing knowledge base result in radical innovation? An empirical study of Dutch companies in the life sciences and health-industry
The main objective of this thesis is to test how a company’s existing knowledge base results in radical innovation, proposing four behavioural process as mediators. Companies with broad knowledge seem to lack sufficient coordination to successfully complete an innovative process. This study proposes that combination and socialization are behavioural processes that could create new combinations of existing knowledge to detect new, unseen patterns to achieve radical innovation. Vice versa, the depth of knowledge could hinder a company, as it could mean that they lack the experience to tackle potential problems in the implementation phase. Furthermore, the depth of knowledge often leads to observational slowness. Therefore, externalization and internalization are proposed behavioural processes that serve as mediators to overcome these challenges and achieve radical innovation consequently. The conceptual model can be found below. These relationships are tested empirically on a sample of Dutch companies in the Life Sciences and Health Industry. The results and conclusions drawn from this study makes valuable contributions to both literature and practice. No significant mediating effect of internalization was found between a company’s deep knowledge base and radical innovation, nor the mediating effect of socialization between a company’s broad knowledge base and radical innovation. Nevertheless, significant results show that externalization partially mediates the relationship between a company’s deep knowledge base and radical innovation and combination mediates the relationship between company’s broad knowledge base and radical innovation. In conclusion, this study provides concrete behavioural processes to facilitate the relationship between a company’s knowledge base and the realization of radical innovation and offers a better understanding in this complex relationship
