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Evolution of R&D Capabilities: The Role of Knowledge Networks Within a Firm

Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, 721 Uris Hall, 3022 Broadway, New York, New York 10027
Department of Management, Warrington College of Business, University of Florida, 201 Stuzin Hall, P.O. Box 117165, Gainesville, Florida 32611
aan19{at}columbia.edu
srikanth.paruchuri{at}cba.ufl.edu

In this paper, we suggest that the characteristics of individual positions in an intraorganizational network of inventors or intrafirm knowledge network predict the likelihood with which knowledge created by an inventor is used in the firm’s research and development (R&D) activities. Such choices lead to path dependence and subsequent specialization. We provide empirical evidence that a firm’s R&D is concentrated in those areas where it chooses to recombine knowledge, offering support for the path-dependent evolution of capabilities. We test this theory by analyzing the R&D networks in DuPont, a highly regarded Fortune 500 chemical company. Cox Proportional Regression models of intrafirm citations on network characteristics offer strong empirical support for our theory.

Key Words: R&D capabilities; knowledge networks; evolutionary; path dependence
History: Received: August 27, 2003;

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