MORSe (Management and Organization Research Seminars): "The impact of intrafirm networks and knowledge base heterogeneity on firms' innovation"
Institute of Management and Organisation
Start date: 26 March 2009
End date: 27 March 2009
26th of March
room 251
12.30 to 14.00
Elisa Operti (USI, IMA)
Presentation of the paper "The impact of intrafirm networks and knowledge base heterogeneity on firms' innovation"
Abstract
This paper explores how a firm's internal collaboration network affects its ability to integrate knowledge in the generation of new technologies. Building on the knowledge-based view of the firm, we contrast the relative efficacy of densely connected and brokered (i.e., cluster-and-bridge) structures, showing how the costs and benefits of both structures vary depending on the heterogeneity of a firms' knowledge base. To put our arguments to a test , we use a novel dataset describing the patent co-authorship networks of 121 semiconductor firms over the period 1992-1998. The results offer support to our predictions and they yield important implications for the design of organizations.
