The red queen in organizational evolution

We propose that competitive success and failure evolve through an ecology of organizational learning. An organization facing competition is likely to engage in a search for ways to improve performance. When successful, this search results in learning that is likely to increase the organization's competitive strength, which in turn triggers learning in its rivals—consequently making them stronger competitors and so again triggering learning in the first organization. We elaborate the conditions under which this self-reinforcing process, known in evolutionary theory as the ‘Red Queen,’ is likely to be adaptive or maladaptive. Adaptive consequences are predicted only for recently experienced learning. Experience in the more distant past of an organization's life, by contrast, is predicted to backfire into a ‘competency trap.’ We predict maladaptive consequences when organizations face many, varied cohorts of rivals. We empirically distinguish these effects using ecological models of competition. Estimates of organizational failure rales reveal a Red Queen among Illinois banks, and support our predictions.     

Replication using templates: Does the unit learn from itself,the template,or both?

Research Summary : Replication of practices is an important value-creating strategy for multi-unit firms, yet they often struggle to share knowledge internally across locations. Drawing on the replication and learning literatures and using data from a Fortune 100 retail chain that implemented a new restocking practice in 280 stores, I examine whether and how templates influence unit learning when replicating new practices. Stores were divided into districts, each with one randomly chosen template and 6–10 replicating stores. A replicating store's prior performance relative to that of its template influences the extent to which the store learns from the template versus from its own experience. These findings suggest that replication involves simultaneously and dynamically learning from both transferred knowledge and knowledge gained from experience. Managerial Summary : Transferring valuable practices within the firm is an important yet difficult task for many firm types, especially multi-unit firms. One way that firms choose to transfer practices is through the use of templates—working examples of the new practice that act as models. Using data from a Fortune 100 retail chain, I show that the use of templates affects the way in which units learn to implement the practice. Because managers face tradeoffs when devoting attention to implementing the new practice, they must balance learning from the template with incorporating their own local experience with the new practice. Overall, my results suggest that choosing many templates is less important than choosing a few templates with superior performance for firms whose units or contexts are similar.     

Do leading or lagging firms learn more from exporting?

An interesting theoretical debate arises when considering firm heterogeneity in learning from exporting. One perspective intimates that technologically lagging firms stand to benefit more from exporting because exposure to technological knowledge in foreign markets allows these firms to close the gap with their more technologically endowed counterparts. A contrasting perspective posits that technologically superior firms benefit more from exporting since these firms are better equipped to translate knowledge acquired in foreign markets into innovation. Using a sample of 1,744 Spanish manufacturing firms from 1990–1997, this study empirically investigates how exporting differentially influences the patent output of technologically leading versus technologically lagging firms. We find that exporting is associated with the ex post increase in innovative productivity for both technologically leading and lagging firms. However, subsequent to exporting, technologically leading firms apply for more patents than technologically lagging firms. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于知识的动态能力演化模型研究

本文提出了一个基于组织知识的动态能力演化模型。在分析了能力的知识构成 ,并提出企业能力改变的 1 8种维度的基础上 ,本文认为动态能力的演化主要是围绕变异、内部选择、传播和保持四个阶段循环进行。在循环过程中 ,交织着认知性努力与行为性努力 ,并且不断进行新的经营惯例的产生与运用 ,整个过程是一个学习性惯例过程     

Does pre‐entry licensing undermine the performance of subsequent independent activities? Evidence from the global aerospace industry, 1944–2000

We study how firms' use of in‐licensing for their initial entry to a business domain can detract from the performance of their subsequent autonomous endeavors in the domain. We argue that in‐licensing produces high levels of causal ambiguity about factors that drive the performance achieved with the licensed product. In turn, the experience that firms gather through pre‐entry licensing is likely to generate superstitious learning and overconfidence that undermine the performance of licensees' subsequent independent operations. The biases will be particularly strong in the face of contextual dissimilarity. We find consistent evidence in a study of firms that entered the global aircraft industry between 1944 and 2000. The research helps advance the understanding of the benefits and costs of markets for technology. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Collaboration and technology linkages: a strategic supplier typology

This study uses frameworks from the strategic management and operations strategy literatures to explore the relationships among collaboration, technology, and innovation in small and medium‐sized manufacturers. Statistical analysis of the responses of 200 New Hampshire manufacturing companies in four SIC code industries (fabricated metals, industrial equipment, electrical and electronic equipment, and instruments) leads to the development of a strategic supplier typology which is useful in explaining the differences in the composition and performance of various types of suppliers. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of strategic alliances in high-technology new product development

The authors examined 905 new product innovations introduced since September 1988 to determine the influences on product innovativeness, with a specific interest in strategic alliances, or cooperative strategies. Findings suggest that single firms, horizontal cooperative strategies, small and mixed'sized firms, biochemical industries, cross-industry product offerings, cross-industry cooperations, the progression of time, and European firms tend to indicate significantly more innovative products. Implications are proposed for business practitioners and researchers with specific application to the diffusion of innovation.