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What do we really know about when technological innovation improves performance (and when it does not)?

Author

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  • Adegbesan, Tunji

    (IESE Business School)

  • Ricart, Joan E.

    (IESE Business School)

Abstract

Most approaches to innovation bear the implicit assumption that increased innovativeness leads to improved organizational performance. Thus, more attention has been focused on innovativeness than on innovation performance; on novelty than on value. However, recent empirical evidence calls into question the unqualified optimism surrounding innovation, and leads us to ask what we really know about when technological innovation improves performance. In this paper, we seek to make a contribution by presenting the results of an exhaustive review of extant knowledge on the outcomes of technological innovation. Our synthesis of the literature allows us to relate in one parsimonious model the drivers and moderators of the antecedents, technical outcomes, and performance outcomes of technological innovation and technological change. We also make sense of the proliferation of terms, and consequent terminological ambiguity, which characterizes a lot of work on technological innovation. Finally, in the light of the model presented and recent developments in work on firm capabilities, we indicate possible avenues for further development of this critical area of research.

Suggested Citation

  • Adegbesan, Tunji & Ricart, Joan E., 2007. "What do we really know about when technological innovation improves performance (and when it does not)?," IESE Research Papers D/668, IESE Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0668
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    Cited by:

    1. Tatiana Marceda Bach & Luciano Luiz Dalazen & Wesley Vieira da Silva & Alex Antonio Ferraresi & Claudimar Pereira da Veiga, 2019. "Relationship Between Innovation and Performance in Private Companies: Systematic Literature Review," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(2), pages 21582440198, June.
    2. Parraguez, Pedro & Škec, Stanko & e Carmo, Duarte Oliveira & Maier, Anja, 2020. "Quantifying technological change as a combinatorial process," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    3. Figueiredo P.N., 2013. "Beyond technological catch‐up : An empirical investigation of further innovative capability accumulation outcomes in latecomer firms with evidence from Brazil," MERIT Working Papers 2013-048, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    4. April M. Franco & MB Sarkar & Rajshree Agarwal & Raj Echambadi, 2009. "Swift and Smart: The Moderating Effects of Technological Capabilities on the Market Pioneering-Firm Survival Relationship," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(11), pages 1842-1860, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Technological innovation; organizational performance; innovation and innovativeness;
    All these keywords.

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