Sources of Innovation Revisited: Patterns in Firms' Usage of Internal and External Search

Wenjing Lyu, Neil Thompson, Keld Laursen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference abstract in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Recent open innovation literature has emphasized external knowledge search and the use of a diverse set of external innovation sources. But firms also have a diverse set of internal innovation sources, and we show that there are distinct patterns across external and internal sources that reflect differences in how firms create and capture value. Our analysis of the innovative activities of 256 large firms from seven countries and across seven industry sectors reveals two distinct innovation search strategies: "tech-focus," which emphasizes exploration and is associated with more innovative outcomes, and "market-focus," which emphasizes exploitation and is associated with higher market value. Finally, we show that characterizing innovation sourcing as tech-vs.-market better explains differences in firm performance than traditional measures such as openness
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Eighty-second Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management
EditorsSonja Taneja
Number of pages1
Place of PublicationBriarcliff Manor, NY
PublisherAcademy of Management
Publication date2022
Pages2146
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022
EventThe Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2022: Creating a Better World Together - Seattle, United States
Duration: 5 Aug 20229 Aug 2022
Conference number: 82
https://2022.aom.org/

Conference

ConferenceThe Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2022
Number82
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySeattle
Period05/08/202209/08/2022
Internet address
SeriesAcademy of Management Proceedings
ISSN0065-0668

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