INTERPRETIVE BARRIERS TO SUCCESSFUL PRODUCT INNOVATION IN LARGE FIRMS

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: DOUGHERTY, D
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.3.2.179
• 发表日期: 1992
• 页码: 179-202
• 关键词: innovation; New products; INTERDEPARTMENTAL COLLABORATION; INTERPRETATION

摘要

The development of commercially viable new products requires that technological and market possibilities are linked effectively in the product's design. Innovators in large firms have persistent problems with such linking, however. This research examines these problems by focusing on the shared interpretive schemes people use to make sense of product innovation. Two interpretive schemes are found to inhibit development of technology-market knowledge: departmental thought worlds and organizational product routines. The paper describes in some depth differences among the thought worlds which keep innovators from synthesizing their expertise. The paper also details how organizational routines exacerbate problems with learning, and how successful innovators overcome both interpretive barriers. The main implication of the study is that to improve innovation in large firms it is necessary to deal explicitly with the interpretive barriers described here. Suggestions for practice and research are offered.