COMPLEMENTARY ASSETS AS PIPES AND PRISMS: INNOVATION INCENTIVES AND TRAJECTORY CHOICES

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wu, Brian; Wan, Zhixi; Levinthal, Daniel A.
• 署名单位: University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; University of Pennsylvania
• 刊物名称: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0143-2095
• DOI: 10.1002/smj.2159
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 1257-1278
• 关键词: Radical technological change; incumbent failure; complementary assets; innovation incentives; technical trajectory

摘要

The issue of the failure of incumbent firms in the face of radical technical change has been a central question in the technology strategy domain for some time. We add to prior contributions by highlighting the role a firm's existing set of complementary assets have in influencing its investment in alternative technological trajectories. We develop an analytical model that considers firm heterogeneity with respect to both technological trajectories and complementary assets. Complementary assets play a dual role in incumbents' investment behavior toward radical technological change: they are not only resources (pipes) that can buffer firms from technology change, but also prisms through which firms view those changes, influencing both the magnitude of resources that should be invested and the trajectory to which these resources should be directed. Copyright (C) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.