Publications
Publications
- Strategic Management Journal
Entrepreneurship in the Large Corporation: A Longitudinal Study of How Established Firms Create Breakthrough Inventions
By: Gautam Ahuja and Curba Morris Lampert
Abstract
We present a model that explains how established firms create breakthrough inventions. We identify three organizational pathologies that inhibit breakthrough inventions: the familiarity trap—favoring the familiar; the maturity trap—favoring the mature; and the propinquity trap—favoring search for solutions near to existing solutions. We argue that by experimenting with novel (i.e., technologies in which the firm lacks prior experience), emerging (technologies that are recent or newly developed in the industry), and pioneering (technologies that do not build on any existing technologies) technologies firms can overcome these traps and create breakthrough inventions. Empirical evidence from the chemicals industry supports our model.
Keywords
Radical Innovation; Organizational Learning; Technology; Strategy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Processes; Innovation and Invention; Chemical Industry
Citation
Ahuja, Gautam, and Curba Morris Lampert. "Entrepreneurship in the Large Corporation: A Longitudinal Study of How Established Firms Create Breakthrough Inventions." Special Issue on Strategic Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial Strategies for Wealth Creation. Strategic Management Journal 22, nos. 6-7 (June–July 2001): 521–543.