Knowledge organization and firms specialisation in biotechnology

Unlike traditional assumptions would suggest sustainable heterogeneity between firms seems to be the rule rather than the exception. Based upon such evidence, the question of firms' specialisation have gained the attention of scholars but the causes and the nature of firms' heterogeneity is still debated. In fact, it is questionable whether differences in firms' performance is related to in-house technological heterogeneity or rather to organisational and managerial abilities. This paper studies the evolution of firms' specialisation in biotechnology by distinguishing modular knowledge, as bodies of understanding, and architectural knowledge, as bodies of practice. It shows that the nature of technological specialisation changes over time. While firms tend to have idiosyncratic and very narrow technological portfolio when a new technological paradigm emerges, their profile tends to converge towards a larger portfolio as technology matures. However, inter-firm heterogeneity will increase in the mode of coordinating and organising knowledge.