IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/zewdip/7426.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Effects of Experience on Selecting Innovation Projects: Better the Devil You Know

Author

Listed:
  • Schmidt, Tobias
  • Schwiebacher, Franz
  • Sofka, Wolfgang

Abstract

Innovation success depends heavily on firm's ability to set priorities and select the most promising options from its project portfolio before the odds of success or failure become visible and reliable. We ask: What does previous innovation experience tell firms about what not to do in the future? With this in mind, we focus on projects that did not materialise or were abandoned - an important building block for choosing and implementing the 'right' projects. We suggest two major learning mechanisms. On the one hand, real options theory suggests a process based on financial data. On the other hand, research on absorptive capacities finds that previous innovation experience translates into superior ability to value, extract and exploit external knowledge. We test both hypotheses on an empirical basis for more than 600 German firms, covering innovation activities in the period 1997 to 2005. Our results indicate congruence between firms' innovation experience and their project selection patterns. Extensive R&D experience materialises as a stock of knowledge that enables firms to judge projects based on knowledge criteria. Non-R&D innovation experience, stemming from producing and introducing products to markets, resonates as decision-making based on economic factors in the future. Both types of innovation experience appear to generate distinct decision-making capabilities inside the firm which are subsequently exploited in selecting projects for the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Schmidt, Tobias & Schwiebacher, Franz & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2008. "The Effects of Experience on Selecting Innovation Projects: Better the Devil You Know," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-084, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7426
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/27561/1/dp08084.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Justin J. P. Jansen & Frans A. J. Van Den Bosch & Henk W. Volberda, 2006. "Exploratory Innovation, Exploitative Innovation, and Performance: Effects of Organizational Antecedents and Environmental Moderators," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(11), pages 1661-1674, November.
    2. Brouwer, Erik & Kleinknecht, Alfred, 1997. "Measuring the unmeasurable: a country's non-R&D expenditure on product and service innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 1235-1242, January.
    3. P. Michael Maher & Albert H. Rubenstein, 1974. "Factors Affecting Adoption of a Quantitative Method for R&D Project Selection," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 119-129, October.
    4. Pindyck, Robert S, 1991. "Irreversibility, Uncertainty, and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 1110-1148, September.
    5. Lenos Trigeorgis, 1993. "Real Options and Interactions With Financial Flexibility," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 22(3), Fall.
    6. Kleinknecht, Alfred, 1987. "Measuring R&D in Small Firms: How Much Are We Missing?," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 253-256, December.
    7. Henry Chesbrough & Richard S. Rosenbloom, 2002. "The role of the business model in capturing value from innovation: evidence from Xerox Corporation's technology spin-off companies," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 11(3), pages 529-555, June.
    8. Cohen, Wesley M & Levinthal, Daniel A, 1989. "Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 569-596, September.
    9. Sendhil Mullainathan & Marianne Bertrand, 2001. "Do People Mean What They Say? Implications for Subjective Survey Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 67-72, May.
    10. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    11. Criscuolo, Chiara & Haskel, Jonathan E. & Slaughter, Matthew J., 2010. "Global engagement and the innovation activities of firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 191-202, March.
    12. Hipp, Christiane & Grupp, Hariolf, 2005. "Innovation in the service sector: The demand for service-specific innovation measurement concepts and typologies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 517-535, May.
    13. Black, Fischer & Scholes, Myron S, 1973. "The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 637-654, May-June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Grimpe, Christoph & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2007. "Search Patterns and Absorptive Capacity: A Comparison of Low- and High-Technology Firms from Thirteen European Countries," ZEW Discussion Papers 07-062, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    2. Christoph Grimpe & Ulrich Kaiser, 2008. "Gains and Pains from Contract Research: A Transaction and Firm-level Perspective," CIE Discussion Papers 2008-01, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Industrial Economics.
    3. Grimpe, Christoph & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2009. "Search patterns and absorptive capacity: Low- and high-technology sectors in European countries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 495-506, April.
    4. Sofka, Wolfgang & Grimpe, Christoph, 2009. "Searching for innovation in market and transition economies: evidence across Europe," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-061, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Sofka, Wolfgang & Grimpe, Christoph, 2009. "Specialized search and innovation performance: evidence across Europe," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-016, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Aschhoff, Birgit & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2008. "Successful Patterns of Scientific Knowledge Sourcing: Mix and Match," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-033 [rev.], ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Frank T. Rothaermel & Maria Tereza Alexandre, 2009. "Ambidexterity in Technology Sourcing: The Moderating Role of Absorptive Capacity," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 759-780, August.
    8. Jatinder S. Sidhu & Harry R. Commandeur & Henk W. Volberda, 2007. "The Multifaceted Nature of Exploration and Exploitation: Value of Supply, Demand, and Spatial Search for Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 20-38, February.
    9. Garcia Fronti, Javier, 2015. "Modelo estocástico para la valuación de una inversión nanomédica [Nanomedical Stochastic Investment Valuation]," MPRA Paper 63948, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Winkelbach, Andreas & Walter, Achim, 2015. "The More Learning, the Better? The Curvilinear Relationship between Technological Learning and New Product Commercialization," EconStor Preprints 107018, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    11. Ben R. Martin, 2016. "Twenty challenges for innovation studies," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 432-450.
    12. Li, Zhengyu, 2016. "Essays on knowledge sourcing and technological capability : A knowledge structure perspective," Other publications TiSEM b8ff31fc-c57b-4bc3-b5a4-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    13. Jirjahn, Uwe & Kraft, Kornelius, 2006. "Do Spillovers Stimulate Incremental or Drastic Product Innovations? Hypotheses and Evidence from German Establishment Data," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-023, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    14. Yuan, Chun & Xue, Doudou & He, Xin, 2021. "A balancing strategy for ambidextrous learning, dynamic capabilities, and business model design, the opposite moderating effects of environmental dynamism," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    15. Turvey, Calum G., 2002. "Can Hysteresis And Real Options Explain The Farmland Valuation Puzzle?," Working Papers 34131, University of Guelph, Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    16. Lander, Diane M. & Pinches, George E., 1998. "Challenges to the Practical Implementation of Modeling and Valuing Real Options," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(3, Part 2), pages 537-567.
    17. Schmidt, Tobias & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2009. "Liability of foreignness as a barrier to knowledge spillovers: Lost in translation?," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 460-474, December.
    18. Anastasios Michailidis & Konstadinos Mattas, 2007. "Using Real Options Theory to Irrigation Dam Investment Analysis: An Application of Binomial Option Pricing Model," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(10), pages 1717-1733, October.
    19. Zimmermann, Jörg & Grimpe, Christoph & Sofka, Wolfgang, 2009. "Young, open and international: the impact of search strategies on the internationalization of new ventures," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-017, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    20. Köhler, Christian & Sofka, Wolfgang & Grimpe, Christoph, 2012. "Selective search, sectoral patterns, and the impact on product innovation performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(8), pages 1344-1356.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Project selection; real options; absorptive capacity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:7426. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zemande.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.