Knowledge integration between technical change and strategy making
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Knowledge integration between technical change and strategy making Stefano Brusoni 1 & Lorenzo Cassi 2 & Simge Tuna 3 Accepted: 14 September 2020/ # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract This paper looks at the different strategies that two of the tire industry’s most prominent players, Pirelli and Michelin, deployed to exploit a radical process innovation: robotized, modular manufacturing. This paper argues that Pirelli, originally the technological follower, could develop a more nuanced, complex and ultimately successful strategy thanks to its superior knowledge integration capabilities. Empirically, we examine the structural characteristics and evolution of inventors’ networks in the two companies to reveal their knowledge integration capabilities. We apply the cohesive blocking method developed by White and Harary (Sociol Methodol 31(1):305–359, 2001) to argue that Pirelli, while relying on comparable skills in terms of technical fields, leveraged a more connected, cohesive and structured skills than Michelin. On this basis, it could develop and deploy a more complex strategy that better fit the characteristics of the new process technology. Pirelli’s knowledge network structure enhanced its knowledge integration capabilities and allowed for a more efficient fit between technology and strategy. Keywords Innovation . Knowledge integration . Social networks . Cohesion JEL classification 032
1 Introduction The analysis of technological variety and behavioral diversity among economic agents was a foundational element of Luigi Orsenigo’s approach to the economic analysis of Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of Zurich Insurance Group.
* Stefano Brusoni [email protected]
1
ETH Zurich (CH), Zürich, Switzerland
2
Paris School of Economics, University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (F), Paris, France
3
Zurich Insurance Group, Austrasse 46, 8045 Zurich, Switzerland
S. Brusoni et al.
innovation. In his landmark study on innovation, diversity and diffusion (Silverberg et al. 1988), he analyzed how the interplay of technological regimes and trajectories explained persistent diversity at the firm level, within the same industry. This paper builds on that intuition presenting the story of two firms, active in the same industry and roughly building on the same set of technical capabilities, that organized them differently and, on that basis, ended learning how to integrate them in very different ways. The idea of knowledge integration is central to this paper. While this idea was not central to Luigi’s work, it was part of many conversations with him, started at a time when one of us (the oldest of the trio) was working on his bachelor thesis under his supervision. These conversations were like Gigi: clever, funny, complex, lighthearted and yet profound. Not that one could see all those facets as they happened. The breadth and depth of Gigi’s thinking took time to reveal itself. One idea from Gigi stuck with me for years, as we were discussing firms’ vertical boundaries decis
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