Lone Inventors as Source of Breakthroughs: Myth or Reality?

41 Pages Posted: 11 Nov 2008 Last revised: 20 Dec 2013

See all articles by Jasjit Singh

Jasjit Singh

INSEAD; INSEAD

Lee Fleming

Harvard University - Technology & Operations Management Unit

Date Written: June 10, 2009

Abstract

Are lone inventors more or less likely to invent breakthroughs' Recent research has attempted to resolve this question by considering the variance of creative outcome distributions. It has implicitly assumed a symmetric thickening or thinning of both tails, that a greater probability of breakthroughs comes at the cost of a greater probability of failures. In contrast, we propose that collaboration can have opposite effects at the two extremes: it reduces the probability of very poor outcomes - due to more rigorous selection processes - while simultaneously increasing the probability of extremely successful outcomes - due to greater recombinant opportunity in creative search. Analysis of over half a million patented inventions supports these arguments: individuals working alone, especially those without affiliation to organizations, are less likely to achieve breakthroughs and more likely to invent particularly poor outcomes. Quantile regressions demonstrate that the effect is more than an upward mean shift. We find partial mediation of the effect of collaboration on extreme outcomes by the diversity of technical experience of team members and by the size of team members' external collaboration networks. Supporting our meta-argument for the importance of examining each tail of the distribution separately, experience diversity helps trim poor outcomes significantly more than it helps create breakthroughs, relative to the effect of external networks.

Keywords: Creativity, Collaboration, Invention, Innovation, Teams, Quantile, Diversity, Networks

Suggested Citation

Singh, Jasjit and Singh, Jasjit and Fleming, Lee, Lone Inventors as Source of Breakthroughs: Myth or Reality? (June 10, 2009). INSEAD Working Paper No. 2009/31/ST, Management Science, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1299064 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1299064

Jasjit Singh (Contact Author)

INSEAD ( email )

1 Ayer Rajah Avenue
Singapore, 138676
Singapore
+65 67995341 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://faculty.insead.edu/singhj/

INSEAD ( email )

Boulevard de Constance
77305 Fontainebleau Cedex
France

Lee Fleming

Harvard University - Technology & Operations Management Unit ( email )

Boston, MA 02163
United States
617 495 6613 (Phone)
617 496 5265 (Fax)

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