Premium
Local search and the evolution of technological capabilities
Author(s) -
Stuart Toby E.,
Podolny Joel M.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
strategic management journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 11.035
H-Index - 286
eISSN - 1097-0266
pISSN - 0143-2095
DOI - 10.1002/smj.4250171004
Subject(s) - competition (biology) , industrial organization , business , technological evolution , economic geography , bounded function , computer science , technological change , economics , marketing , mathematics , artificial intelligence , ecology , mathematical analysis , biology
The assumption that ‘local search’ constrains the direction of corporate R&D is central in evolutionary perspectives on technological change and competition. In this paper, we propose a network‐analytic approach for identifying the evolution of firms' technological positions. The approach (1) permits graphical and quantitative assessments of the extent to which firms' search behavior is locally bounded, and (2) enables firms to be positioned and grouped according to the similarities in their innovative capabilities. The utility of the proposed framework is demonstrated by an analysis of strategic partnering and the evolution of the technological positions of the 10 largest Japanese semiconductor producers from 1982 to 1992.