Does cooperation absorb complexity? Innovation networks and the speed and spread of complex technological innovation

Abstract A new technological paradigm which rewards cooperation in the innovation of complex technologies seems to have emerged in recent years. Global reach and greater innovation speed are said to be key benefits of network-based complex innovation. By bringing together multiple sources of knowledge and experience, networks of innovative firms and other organizations increasingly appear to be able to absorb the combination of spatial and temporal uncertainty. But what is the empirical evidence underpinning this new paradigm? Beyond case studies and the experience of individual researchers, what do we know about cooperation and the pace and place of complex innovations? Examination of available empirical research fails to confirm the theory that cooperation enhances either the globalization of innovation or its speed.

[1]  Ellinor Ehrnberg,et al.  On the definition and measurement of technological discontinuities , 1995 .

[2]  P. Bierly,et al.  Determinants of technology cycle time in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry , 1996 .

[3]  Frank T. Rothaermel,et al.  Technological discontinuities and interfirm cooperation: what determines a startup's attractiveness as alliance partner? , 2002, IEEE Trans. Engineering Management.

[4]  Mona V. Makhija,et al.  Measuring Globalization of Industries Using a National Industry Approach: Empirical Evidence Across Five Countries and over Time , 1997 .

[5]  D. Jorgenson,et al.  Raising the Speed Limit: U.S. Economic Growth in the Information Age , 2000 .

[6]  Kulwant Singh,et al.  The Impact of Technological Complexity and Interfirm Cooperation on Business Survival , 1997 .

[7]  P. Oinas,et al.  The Evolution of Technologies in Time and Space: From National and Regional to Spatial Innovation Systems , 2002 .

[8]  Harry G. Barkema,et al.  Organizational Learning and diversification , 1994 .

[9]  John C. Henderson,et al.  Knowledge resource exchange in strategic alliances , 2001, IBM Syst. J..

[10]  David Wilemon,et al.  Sources and assessment of complexity in NPD projects , 2003 .

[11]  J. Hagedoorn.  Inter-firm R&D partnerships: an overview of major trends and patterns since 1960 , 2002 .

[12]  Richard W. Olshavsky,et al.  Shortening of the PLC—AN Empirical Test , 1981 .

[13]  Fiorenza Belussi,et al.  A typology of networks: flexible and evolutionary firms , 1998 .

[14]  Ashoka Mody,et al.  Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 20 (1993) lSlLl70. North-Holland Learning through alliances , 1991 .

[15]  A. Zaheer,et al.  Does Trust Matter? Exploring the Effectsof Interorganizational and Interpersonaltrust on Performance , 1998 .

[16]  Amy M. Hightower,et al.  Science and Engineering Indicators , 1993 .

[17]  James M. Utterback,et al.  Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation: How Companies Can Seize Opportunities in the Face of Technological Change , 1994 .

[18]  A. Neely,et al.  Networking and Innovation: A Systematic Review of the Evidence , 2004 .

[19]  Marc H. Meyer,et al.  Product development cycle time and commercial success , 1995 .

[20]  T. Luke,et al.  GLOBAL FLOWMATIONS, LOCAL FUNDAMENTALISMS, AND FAST GEOPOLITICS : “America” in an accelerating world order , 2002 .

[21]  Stine Grodal,et al.  TOWARDS A DYNAMIC MODEL OF NETWORKS AND INNOVATION , 2004 .

[22]  A. A. Kayal,et al.  An empirical evaluation of the technology cycle time indicator as a measure of the pace of technological progress in superconductor technology , 1999 .

[23]  Jose A.B. Assis.  External linkages and technological innovation: (some) topical issues , 2003 .

[24]  D. Teece.  Competition, Cooperation, and Innovation Organizational Arrangements for Regimes of Rapid Technological Progress , 1992 .

[25]  Preet S. Aulakh,et al.  Trust and Performance in Cross-Border Marketing Partnerships: A Behavioral Approach , 1996 .

[26]  Kate D. Abel,et al.  Key Factors in Increasing Speed to Market and Improving New Product Success Rates , 1999 .

[27]  Mark Vandenbosch,et al.  Dramatically reducing cycle times through flash development , 2002 .

[28]  L. Branscomb,et al.  Reflections on Mansfield, Technological Complexity, and the “Golden Age” of U.S. Corporate R&D , 2004 .

[29]  Faculteit Economie,et al.  Do Intangible Assets and Pre-founding R&D Efforts Matter for Innovation Speed in Start-Ups? , 2004 .

[30]  Susan M. Roberts,et al.  An Unruly World?: Globalization, Governance and Geography , 2002 .

[31]  Don E. Kash,et al.  The Complexity Challenge: Technological Innovation for the 21st Century , 1999 .

[32]  David L. Deeds,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN HIGH TECHNOLOGY VENTURES: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF NEW BIOTECHNOLOGY FIRMS , 2000 .

[33]  Daniel J Flint,et al.  Compressing new product success-to-success cycle time , 2002 .

[34]  Miss A.O. Penney.  (b) , 1974, The New Yale Book of Quotations.

[35]  Don E. Kash,et al.  Self-organizing innovation networks: implications for globalization , 2004 .

[36]  G. Tellis,et al.  Growing, Growing, Gone: Cascades, Diffusion, and Turning Points in the Product Life Cycle , 2004 .

[37]  Kentaro Sakai,et al.  International Strategic Alliances: Their Role in Industrial Globalisation , 2000 .

[38]  John Cantwell,et al.  The frontier of international technology networks: sourcing abroad the most highly tacit capabilities , 1999 .

[39]  Trust and Political Economy , 2005 .

[40]  A. Griffin.  PDMA Research on New Product Development Practices: Updating Trends and Benchmarking Best Practices , 1997 .

[41]  Bengt-Åke Lundvall,et al.  The Globalising Learning Economy: Implications for Innovation Policy , 1998 .

[42]  Gary K. Jones,et al.  National Culture and Innovation: Implications for Locating Global R&D Operations1 , 2000 .

[43]  R. Narula,et al.  Innovating through strategic alliances: moving towards international partnerships and contractual agreements , 1999 .

[44]  N. Noorderhaven,et al.  THE ROLE OF TRUST IN INTERORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING IN JOINT VENTURES , 2002 .

[45]  Peter T. Gianiodis,et al.  Innovation speed: Transferring university technology to market , 2005 .

[46]  Ronald N. Kostoff,et al.  Science and technology roadmaps , 2001, IEEE Trans. Engineering Management.

[47]  J. Hagedoorn,et al.  The institutionalization and evolutionary dynamics of interorganizational alliances and networks. , 1997 .

[48]  Robert U. Ayres,et al.  Barriers and breakthroughs: an “expanding frontiers” model of the technology-industry life cycle , 1988 .

[49]  James F. Moore.  The rise of a new corporate form , 1998 .

[50]  P. Pirolli,et al.  Sensemaking , 2008, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[51]  Lakis C. Kaounides,et al.  Science, Technology, and Global Competitive Advantage: The Strategic Implications of Emerging Technologies for Corporations and Nations , 1999 .

[52]  David L. Deeds,et al.  Strategic alliances and the rate of new product development: An empirical study of entrepreneurial biotechnology firms , 1996 .

[53]  George Jr. Stalk Hout.  Competing Against Time : How Time Based Competition Is Reshaping Global Markets , 2002 .

[54]  A. Chakrabarti,et al.  Innovation Speed: A Conceptual Model of Context, Antecedents, and Outcomes , 1996 .

[55]  Mark Moss,et al.  Sensemaking, complexity and organizational knowledge , 2001 .

[56]  D. Archibugi,et al.  The globalisation of technology: a new taxonomy , 1995 .

[57]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  The Art of Continuous Change : Linking Complexity Theory and Time-Paced Evolution in Relentlessly Shifting Organizations , 1997 .

[58]  J. Hollingsworth.  New perspectives on the spatial dimensions of economic coordination: tensions between globalization and social systems of production , 1998 .

[59]  C. Debresson,et al.  Networks of innovators:A review and introduction to the issue , 1991 .

[60]  S. Edwards.  The dynamics of networks , 1974 .

[61]  Koenraad Debackere,et al.  The role of inter-organizational collaboration within innovation strategies: towards a portfolio approach , 2003 .

[62]  J. Agnew.  The New Global Economy: Time-Space Compression, Geopolitics, and Global Uneven Development , 2001 .

[63]  G. Santangelo,et al.  Capitalism, profits and innovation in the new techno-economic paradigm , 2000 .

[64]  J. Hage.  Adaptive Costs: A New Institutional Paradigm of Rules for the Competitive Game , 2001 .

[65]  Jarunee Wonglimpiyarat,et al.  Does complexity affect the speed of innovation , 2005 .

[66]  C. Birchenhall,et al.  Is product life cycle theory a special case? Dominant designs and the emergence of market niches through coevolutionary-learning , 1998 .

[67]  Arvind Parkhe,et al.  Understanding trust in international alliances , 1998 .