Knowledge Networks, Collaboration Networks, and Exploratory Innovation

Wang, Chunlei; Rodan, Simon; Fruin, Mark W.; Xu, Xiaoyan

doi:10.5465/amj.2011.0917

Cited by 471 publications

(449 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…The two networks are considered decoupled (e.g., Wang, Rodan, Fruin, & Xu, 2014). 9 To illustrate the degree of complexity across the three practices, consider a hypothetical greeting ritual between two culturally distant parties where one party practices "shaking hands" and the other party practices "gazing into the eyes" (see also Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2012).…”

Section: Footnotesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcultural Brokerage: The Role of Cosmopolitans in Bridging Structural and Cultural Holes

Levy¹,

Lee

Jonsen

et al. 2018

Journal of Management

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TRANSCULTURAL BROKERAGE: THE ROLE OF COSMOPOLITANS IN BRIDGING STRUCTURAL AND CULTURAL HOLES ABSTRACTThe growth and proliferation of global systems and transnational cultures have generated larger and more diverse types of cosmopolitans, all of whom span conventional social boundaries. Understanding this diversity is increasingly important because cosmopolitans often bridge across a wide range of transnational and global networks within and across global organizations. Drawing on multiple disciplines, we conceptualize cosmopolitanism as an embodied disposition characterized by high levels of cultural transcendence and openness that are manifested in and enacted along varied trajectories of cultural embeddedness in one's own culture and cultural engagement with the cultural Other. We then propose an analytical framework for the influence of cosmopolitan disposition on transcultural brokerage processes, specifically on bridging structural and cultural holes. Finally, we present a typology of cosmopolitan brokers and their corresponding practices and activities as they engage in transcultural brokerage. By recognizing the diversity and complexity of cosmopolitans and their respective dispositions, we significantly expand the pool of "global talent" beyond the traditional focus on expatriates, and we challenge the conventional wisdom on who counts as talent in an interconnected world.

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Section: Footnotesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcultural Brokerage: The Role of Cosmopolitans in Bridging Structural and Cultural Holes

Levy¹,

Lee

Jonsen

et al. 2018

Journal of Management

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“…On the contrary, the ability to derive new innovations may hinge on the existing capabilities of the firm coupled with the new information obtained from elsewhere (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990;Gatignon et al, 2002). This is because most learning is associative in nature and thus it makes sense that search occurs in close relation to existing knowledge sets (Wang, Rodan, Fruin, & Xu, 2014). The development of completely new solutions is not only in the domain the completely now, but is rather dependent upon the ability to arrive at new combinations of existing knowledge (Katilia & Ahuja, 2002;Schumpeter, 1934).…”

Section: Open Innovation To Resolve Technological Interdependencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Firms do not examine each and every potential alternative, because bounded rationality constrains the recognition of distant alternatives (Helfat, 1994). Most learning related to innovation is associative in nature, and learning occurs in close proximity to existing knowledge sets (Helfat, 1994;Levinthal & March, 1993;Wang et al, 2014). Novelty hinges on firms' abilities to leverage existing capabilities associated with existing products, with whatever new information obtained from outside the firm (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990;Gatignon et al, 2002).…”

Section: Sourcingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This focus on current technology is a requirement of collective technological progress that PBFs participate in (Whitley, 2002) as firms focus on innovations that closely relate to the current state of technology and its trajectory sets (Helfat, 1994;Levinthal & March, 1993;Wang et al, 2014). The findings call into question the generalisability of the popularised search construct based on survey data first argued by Laursen & Salter (2006), and provide the basis for a call for researchers to investigate alternative modes of inbound information flows that may be more useful in network environments like the ones in which PBFs operate.…”

Section: Contributions To Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, narrow search is positively related 9 to novel products. Narrow search invokes notions of search patterns residing closer to the existing activities of the firm and in close proximity to existing knowledge sets (Helfat, 1994;Levinthal & March, 1993;Wang, Rodan, Fruin, & Xu, 2014).…”

Section: Figure 18 -Diagrammatical Synopsis Of Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Novel product innovation in project-based firms: explaining innovation where interdependent firms deliver complex system-level outcomes

Ford¹

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Project-based firms (PBFs) are an increasingly important firm type in today's projectdriven world. Over the next two decades, PBFs will transform nearly $60 trillion into complex product systems (CoPS) that comprise the communication, energy, and transportation infrastructure of our modern global economy. In the process, they will participate in a collective technological development process that is iterative, intensely interorganisational, and dominated by their participation in large industry projects. In this environment, PBFs will deliver components, subsystems, and CoPS, some being novel products that are new to the world. These are called CoPS-related novel products.However, the current understanding of how PBFs introduce CoPS-related novel products is lacking. In general, the existing innovation literature does not provide an adequate inter-organisational perspective, which is necessary to explain the development of new The CoPS innovation literature itself remains too focused on the role of large system integrators, and not on the broader network of firms that support innovation. This leaves unscrutinised rest of the 'project-based productive network' of firms delivering products (components, technologies, and subsystems) into the higher-level CoPS. Taken together, the current literature inadequately addresses many factors that are important to novel product innovation in PBFs. Therefore, the central research question this thesis aims to answer is: What factors facilitate PBFs' ability to introduce novel product innovations in environments where interdependent firms deliver complex system-level outcomes?Three specific challenges are imperative to understanding novel product introduction in PBFs. The first relates to the project-based nature of organising, which means that PBFs have contingent opportunities for novel product innovation, depending upon the circumstances of the projects they conduct. This is called the contingent opportunities problem. The second challenge is that PBFs have to ensure that their innovations are compatible with our technologies in their environment. This is called the technological interdependencies problem. The third challenge is that PBFs have enduring interorganisational commitments that extend across the projects they conduct. This is called the enduring relationships problem.ii Novel product innovation in project-based firms Three research studies were designed and conducted to address the three specific challenges. The research is based on survey data collected from PBFs in the Australian upstream oil and gas industry. Study 1 investigates capabilities that PBFs use to overcome the contingent opportunities problems. This study finds that firms use an adaptive problemsolving capability to recognise opportunities within projects, and are reliant on networking capabilities to bring about novel product innovations. Study 2 investigates how PBFs use both inbound and outbound non-pecuniary open innovation practices to resolve technological interdependencies. This stud...

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Stepping beyond your comfort zone: Diffusion‐based network analytics for knowledge trajectory recommendation

Zhang

et al. 2023

Asso for Info Science & Tech

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Predicting a researcher's knowledge trajectories beyond their current foci can leverage potential inter‐/cross‐/multi‐disciplinary interactions to achieve exploratory innovation. In this study, we present a method of diffusion‐based network analytics for knowledge trajectory recommendation. The method begins by constructing a heterogeneous bibliometric network consisting of a co‐topic layer and a co‐authorship layer. A novel link prediction approach with a diffusion strategy is then used to capture the interactions between social elements (e.g., collaboration) and knowledge elements (e.g., technological similarity) in the process of exploratory innovation. This diffusion strategy differentiates the interactions occurring among homogeneous and heterogeneous nodes in the heterogeneous bibliometric network and weights the strengths of these interactions. Two sets of experiments—one with a local dataset and the other with a global dataset—demonstrate that the proposed method is prior to 10 selected baselines in link prediction, recommender systems, and upstream graph representation learning. A case study recommending knowledge trajectories of information scientists with topical hierarchy and explainable mediators reveals the proposed method's reliability and potential practical uses in broad scenarios.

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Knowledge Networks, Collaboration Networks, and Exploratory Innovation

Cited by 471 publications

References 72 publications

Transcultural Brokerage: The Role of Cosmopolitans in Bridging Structural and Cultural Holes

Transcultural Brokerage: The Role of Cosmopolitans in Bridging Structural and Cultural Holes

Novel product innovation in project-based firms: explaining innovation where interdependent firms deliver complex system-level outcomes

Stepping beyond your comfort zone: Diffusion‐based network analytics for knowledge trajectory recommendation

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