Mitigating Diminishing Returns to R&D: The Role of Information Technology in Innovation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ravichandran, T.; Han, Shu; Mithas, Sunil
• 署名单位: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Yeshiva University; University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park
• 刊物名称: INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7047
• DOI: 10.1287/isre.2017.0717
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 812-827
• 关键词: firm performance; ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITIES; competitive environments; DEVELOPMENT EXPENDITURES; COLLABORATION NETWORKS; KNOWLEDGE SOURCES; market value; PRODUCTIVITY; investments; management

摘要

Increasingly, firms across many industries are grappling with the challenge of declining returns to research and development (R&D). In this study, we investigate if and how information technology (IT) can help firms deal with this problem. We theorize that IT systems can help firms to cope with the complexity and inefficiency in managing innovation when R&D investments scale. We explicate the mechanisms through which IT enables firms to cope with the challenges they face when scaling their R&D and we posit that IT will mitigate the diminishing returns to R&D. Using archival data for 161 firms from 1991 to 2003 we find support for our conjecture that IT mitigates the diminishing returns to R&D. The mitigating effect of IT is stronger for firms facing greater complexity in their R&D activities, as measured by inventor intensity and geographical and technological complexity. We interpret and discuss these findings and their practical and theoretical implications.