Structural Constraints, Strategic Interactions and Innovative Processes: Measuring Network Effects in New Product Development Projects
Journal of Management and Governance, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 239-263, September 2000
26 Pages Posted: 18 May 2005
Abstract
In this paper I approach the analysis of innovation activities as relational processes first deriving the econometric specification of an endogenous model of network effect on individual outcome, and then using data on innovation projects to empirically test the impact on actors' performance of relational activities in new product development. A complete relational set of inter-unit relationships in 173 new product development projects among 24 R&D units of a profit oriented R&D organization is analyzed using mixed regressive-autoregressive models. Results show the importance of a network effects on unit's performance, after controlling for unit's attributional characteristics. The magnitude and directionality of these effects are sensitive to project characteristics, but not to the directionality of the ties. Implications for theory and research in innovation management are discussed by elaborating on the importance of the content of the ties to assess the impact of relational activities, and to examine client (i.e. ties sent) and server (i.e. ties received) relational options as complementary aspects of interaction strategies.
Keywords: Auto-correlation models, innovation, networks, product development, strategic interaction
JEL Classification: C52, O31, O32
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
Internal and External R&D: A Sample Selection Approach
By Claudio A. Piga and Marco Vivarelli
-
The Impact of Financial Constraints on Innovation: What Can Be Learned from a Direct Measure?
-
How Rapidly Does Science Leak Out?
By James D. Adams, Roger Clemmons, ...
-
Network Positioning and R&D Activity: A Study of Italian Groups
By Igor Filatotchev, Claudio A. Piga, ...
-
Financing New Investments Under Asymmetric Information: A General Approach
By Robin Boadway and Michael Keen
-
Financing Conditions, the Concept of Innovation Capacity and the Innovative Activity of Firms
By Georg Paula
-
Testing the Schumpeterian Hypotheses on an Open Innovation Framework