INO Research Seminar

Seminar by
Andrea Prencipe, University G. d’Annunzio and SPRU, University of Sussex

Innovation in Complex Products: A Multiple Level Approach

Co-authored by
Stefano Brusoni, Bocconi University and SPRU, University of Sussex

Abstract:

This paper adopts a multi-level perspective to study how organizations coordinate innovation in complex product industries. Based on empirical evidence from the aircraft engine industry, this paper proposes systems integration as specific instance of coordination process; a specific type of capability; and a distinctive trait of innovating organizations. Systems integrating organizations are not vertically integrated organizations: they rely on wide networks of specialized suppliers; they maintain in-house broad technological and organizational skills, ranging from component assembly through the understanding and integration of the technological disciplines underlying a product, to project management. Such broad skill set enables systems integrating organizations to both sense impending change, relying on the exploratory activities carried out by their suppliers; and promptly respond to it, relying on the integrative capabilities they maintain in-house. This paper argues that, from a competitive point of view, systems integration is most appropriately understood as knowledge integration.

Andrea Prencipe is Associate Professor of Economics and Management of Innovation at University G. d'Annunzio, Pescara, Italy, and Research Fellow at Science and Technology Policy Research (SPRU), University of Sussex. He has a D.Phil. in Technology and Corporate Strategy (SPRU), an MA in Innovation Management (Scuola Superiore S.Anna, Pisa, Italy), a MSc in Technology Innovation Management (SPRU), and a BA in Economics and Business (University G. d'Annunzio). Dr. Prencipe has published extensively in books and leading journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly
, Research Policy
, Journal of Management Studies
, and Industrial and Corporate Change
.