This paper examines processes of trial-and-error learning during the development of a technological innovation by an interorganizational joint venture created expressly for developing and commercializing products from the new technology. We develop a model of adaptive learning, which incorporates elements from laboratory models of learning and applies them to the field research setting. The learning model focuses on relationships between the goals, actions, and outcomes of an innovation team within the joint venture as it develops the innovation over time, and the influences that environmental events and external interventions by resource controllers in parent companies have on the learning process. The model is tested based on a real-time longitudinal study of the development of a biomedical innovation (therapeutic apheresis) from 1983 to 1988. Different patterns of learning were observed in different periods of innovation development. Event time series analyses clearly contradict the learning model during an initial expansion period, but strongly support the model during a subsequent contraction period. Explanations for why these different patterns of organizational learning occurred over time are provided, and focus on a set of organizational structures and practices which are commonly used to manage innovation development, but which inhibit learning.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore how the depth and breadth of firms' technological knowledge affect their performance.Design/methodology/approach -An empirical investigation of a sample of US manufacturing firms was conducted. The main independent variables were measured using firms' patent data. Three hypotheses based on theory were developed and tested using multivariate regressions. To increase reliability, alternative industry and firm explanators of performance are controlled.Findings -The depth and breadth of technological knowledge, rather than total stock, are significantly better at predicting three measures of firm performance that was used in the study -return on invested capital, sales growth, and Tobin's q. The two knowledge dimensions exhibited either independent non-linear effects or mutually reinforcing effects on each of the three performance measures.Research limitations/implications -The study is limited to a fine-grained analysis of effects of technological knowledge. It does not take into account the facilitating role of marketing and administrative knowledge.Practical implications -Corporate managers need to measure the depth and breadth of their technological knowledge stocks and include them in their planning models. Extreme combinations of depth and breadth need to be corrected and brought into balance.Originality/value -The paper represents one of the few studies to disaggregate a firm's total stock of technological knowledge into its depth and breadth components.

This article describes how innovations develop over time based on findings emerging from seven innovations included in the Minnesota Innovation Research Program. These observations are very different from typical models in the literature of the innovation process. The actual process is fluid, and includes an initial shock to propel the innovation into being, proliferation of the original idea, setbacks and surprises along the way which provide numerous opportunities for learning and failure, and a blending of the old and the new as the innovation is implemented and diffused. This article is one small step in developing descriptively more accurate and useful models of the innovation process based on longitudinal research studies.

Despite the intrinsic human benefit and potential organizational benefit of spirituality, we suggest that there are limits to the effectiveness of spirituality in the workplace. Spirituality in the workplace is subject to dilemmas, costs and outright negative effects. Successful implementation of spirituality in the workplace requires organizations to pay attention to six issues: (1) net economic cost of implementation, (2) potential for worker exploitation, (3) replacing or substituting community's function or role in spirituality, (4) inappropriate practice of spirituality in the workplace, (5) potential for competitive disadvantage, and (6) increased groupthink. We conclude by discussing research opportunities and practical suggestions.

Purpose -The purpose of this study is twofold. First, the authors aim to investigate the applicability of the five (EO) dimensions of autonomy, innovativeness, risk taking, proactiveness, and competitive aggressiveness to a medium-sized firm. Second, the research seeks to explore firm processes leading to the development of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in a medium-sized domestic US firm. Thus, it endeavours to examine the applicability of EO dimensions as well as the processes by which EO arose in the focal company. Design/methodology/approach -The authors use a multi-method approach entailing analysis of archival data as well as semi-structured interviews of executives to examine the applicability of EO dimensions as well as the processes associated with the development of EO to a medium sized firm competing in a Midwestern US market. Such an in-depth analysis of one firm provides rich data, enabling the exploration of EO using qualitative methods. Findings -While the medium-sized domestic US business had high levels of autonomy and proactiveness, it exhibited moderate levels of innovativeness and risk-taking, and only a low level of competitive aggressiveness. Furthermore, the analysis suggests that organizational artifacts facilitate the development of EO and support organizational culture. Specifically, the organizational artifacts of having an ESOP, a flat hierarchy, inter-unit coordination, and customer communication facilitated EO, and reinforced the organizational culture aspects of empowerment, openness, teamwork, quality services, customer satisfaction, and adaptability. Originality/value -This study is among the first to examine all five EO dimensions as well as to use qualitative methods to do so. It also illustrates how EO applies to medium-sized firms, and identifies processes by which these dimensions develop.