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Measuring Exaptation and Its Impact on Innovation, Search, and Problem Solving

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  • Pierpaolo Andriani

    (Kedge Business School, 13288 Marseille, France)

  • Ayfer Ali

    (Department of Business Administration, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28903 Madrid, Spain)

  • Mariano Mastrogiorgio

    (School of Business Administration, IE University, 28006 Madrid, Spain)

Abstract

Exaptation, the emergence of latent functionality in existing artifacts, is an underexplored mechanism of novelty generation in innovation. In this paper, we measure the frequency of exaptation in the pharmaceutical industry. We find that about 42% of new functions derived from existing drugs have an exaptive nature. We think that this constitutes the first measure of exaptation in any industry. We also link exaptation with radical innovation and find that most radical innovations in our sample are exaptive. Also, nearly all radical innovations occur in market areas very distant from the drug’s original market. We propose that exaptive innovation constitutes a different search mechanism and problem-solving approach from deliberate innovation and discuss the role of context and serendipity in innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Pierpaolo Andriani & Ayfer Ali & Mariano Mastrogiorgio, 2017. "Measuring Exaptation and Its Impact on Innovation, Search, and Problem Solving," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(2), pages 320-338, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:28:y:2017:i:2:p:320-338
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2017.1116
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    References listed on IDEAS

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