Melissa Schilling
New York University, Stern School of Business, Faculty Member
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There is growing consensus that the goal of antitrust enforcement should be to manage for dynamic efficiency, that is, an appropriate balance between short-run static efficiencies such as reducing costs and maximizing consumer surplus,... more
There is growing consensus that the goal of antitrust enforcement should be to manage for dynamic efficiency, that is, an appropriate balance between short-run static efficiencies such as reducing costs and maximizing consumer surplus, and the longer-term gains that arise from innovation. However, determining how to incorporate innovation into efficiency goals is complicated; innovation typically entails great uncertainty, long time horizons, and interdependencies across projects. This means there are no easy solutions for estimating the welfare impact of any given innovation investment or strategy. We can, however, use what we know about how firms manage the innovation process, including how they choose and value projects and ration their capital to meet their short- and long-term needs, to gain insight into how we can best foster firms’ incentives to innovate in ways that improve long-run economic welfare. I provide some illustrative examples for how these insights can be incorporated into antitrust enforcement.
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A key way individuals learn is through sharing ideas with each other. We extend March's (1991) classic model of exploration and exploitation by allowing for direct interpersonal learning. We simulate an organization with individuals... more
A key way individuals learn is through sharing ideas with each other. We extend March's (1991) classic model of exploration and exploitation by allowing for direct interpersonal learning. We simulate an organization with individuals organized into distinct subgroups ...
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The structure of alliance networks influences their potential for knowledge creation. Dense local clustering provides information transmission capacity in the network by fostering communication and cooperation. Nonredundant connections... more
The structure of alliance networks influences their potential for knowledge creation. Dense local clustering provides information transmission capacity in the network by fostering communication and cooperation. Nonredundant connections contract the distance between firms and give the network greater reach by tapping a wider range of knowledge resources. We propose that firms embedded in alliance networks that exhibit both high clustering and high reach (short average path lengths to a wide range of firms) will have greater innovative output than firms in networks that do not exhibit these characteristics. We find support for this proposition in a longitudinal study of the patent performance of 1,106 firms in 11 industry-level alliance networks.
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There is considerable research asserting the importance of exploratory search versus exploitative search, however relatively little work examines strategies used to achieve exploratory search. How do individuals and firms explore... more
There is considerable research asserting the importance of exploratory search versus exploitative search, however relatively little work examines strategies used to achieve exploratory search. How do individuals and firms explore uncharted technological terrain? This paper extends research on knowledge networks, cognition, and learning to propose three main strategies of knowledge creation that are more likely to result in discoveries that are distant from existing inventions: Deduction, synthetic recombination, and long search paths. We test our arguments using a large and unique dataset on outlier patents filed at the US Patent and Trademark Office. Our findings suggest that there are significant differences in the inventor teams, assignees, and search strategies that result in outlier patents. These results have important implications for managers that wish to encourage more exploratory search for breakthrough innovation.
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Page 1. ? Academy of Management Executive, 1998, Vol. 12, No. 3 Managing the new product development process: Strategic imperatives Melissa A. Schilling and Charles WL Hill Executive Overview For many industries, new ...
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ABSTRACT Plotting the performance of a technology against the money or effort invested in it most often yields an S-shaped curve: slow initial improvement, then accelerated improvement, then diminishing improvement. These S-curves can be... more
ABSTRACT Plotting the performance of a technology against the money or effort invested in it most often yields an S-shaped curve: slow initial improvement, then accelerated improvement, then diminishing improvement. These S-curves can be used to gain insight into the relative payoff of investment in competing technologies, as well as providing some insight into when and why some technologies overtake others in the race for dominance. Analyzing renewable energies from such a technology S-curve perspective reveals some surprising and important implications for both government and industry. Using data on government R&D investment and technological improvement (in the form of cost reductions), we show that both wind energy and geothermal energy are poised to become more economical than fossil fuels within a relatively short time frame. The evidence further suggests that R&D for wind and geothermal technologies has been under-funded by national governments relative to funding for solar technologies, and government funding of fossil fuel technologies might be excessive given the diminishing performance of those technologies.
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... Home Find Research Papers Business Administration Management and StrategyPapers P Protecting or diffusing a technology platform: tradeoffs in appropriability, network externalities and architectural control. Advanced Search.... more
... Home Find Research Papers Business Administration Management and StrategyPapers P Protecting or diffusing a technology platform: tradeoffs in appropriability, network externalities and architectural control. Advanced Search. ...
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Research Interests: Business, Entrepreneurship, Industrial Organization, Social Networks, Typology, and 15 moreStrategic Management, Strategic Alliances, Networks, Aerospace, Technological Innovation, Small-world networks, Computers, Business and Management, Strategic Entrepreneurship, Modularity, Alliance, Alliances, Dynamism, Network structure, and Economies of Scale
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It is often held that the old, industrial world dominated by vertically integrated companies (Chandler's ""visible hand"") has given way to more open ways of organization and that in the age of platforms and... more
It is often held that the old, industrial world dominated by vertically integrated companies (Chandler's ""visible hand"") has given way to more open ways of organization and that in the age of platforms and modularity the visible hand is ""vanishing"". In this symposium distinguished management and organization scholars will discuss to what extent this is true and what new organizational arrangements and forms are replacing the traditional vertically integrated firm. Panelists will examine how we may need to rethink the role and nature of the visible hand in the age of platforms and modularity, taking as a starting point both the perspective of an individual firm and the overall industry or ecosystem. Different perspectives include, among others, organization design, strategy to shape industry architectures, systems integration and integrative capabilities, setting the scope of activities, redefinition of competition, platform governance, and organizing for innovation."
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Value creation and capture are complex in platform markets. The quality of the platform, and the depth, breadth, and quality of available complements collectively determine the overall value create...
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What makes some people spectacularly innovative? While the existing research in psychology and innovation management tells us much about the sources of creativity generally, it falls short in expla...
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This symposium, which straddles the paper and presenter format, intends to break new ground in our understanding of value creation and value capture in an evolving industry architecture- or ecosyst...
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Research on creativity, scientific discovery, and innovation is growing exponentially in the management literature. This growth is a result of a convergence of at least three major drivers: 1) the ...
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This symposium aspires to take stock of recent developments in the study of value creation and appropriation in the context of ecosystem. Drawing on the cutting-edge research of senior scholars who...
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Technological innovation is a double-edged sword. It can help solve major problems, such as how to treat cancer, and can be an engine of economic growth, but it can also cost jobs, such as when automation replaces people. Both aspects... more
Technological innovation is a double-edged sword. It can help solve major problems, such as how to treat cancer, and can be an engine of economic growth, but it can also cost jobs, such as when automation replaces people. Both aspects raise issues that have major but so far little-recognized policy implications. One such issue is that new technologies are now taking the place not just of routinized jobs but of more complex positions. Another is that many government policies meant to foster needed innovation are based on an outmoded understanding of how innovation occurs and thus are not as effective as they could be. As behavioral scientists who study technology and innovation, we offer insights into addressing both issues.
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Platform ecosystems (e.g., Apple iOS, Sony PlayStation, Amazon) are receiving increasing attention from scholars in various subfields including strategy, innovation, information systems, and entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, each of these... more
Platform ecosystems (e.g., Apple iOS, Sony PlayStation, Amazon) are receiving increasing attention from scholars in various subfields including strategy, innovation, information systems, and entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, each of these fields has their own set of definitions, research questions, and research agendas which can cause incongruence and silo-thinking. This panel symposium attempts to initiate a cross- disciplinary conversation and improve our understanding of platform ecosystems. Our goals are 1) to understand common features of platform ecosystems, 2) to learn about state of the art research on platform ecosystems from various subfields, and 3) identify opportunities for cross-disciplinary research that pushes the envelope of platforms research. We accomplish these goals by bringing together four high-profile platform scholars from the strategic management, innovation, information systems, and entrepreneurship fields. We further work with a senior scholar who is well-positioned to cut across...
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In 2000, Carliss Baldwin and Kim Clark published “Design Rules: The Power of Modularity,” a book that introduced new ways of understanding and explaining the architecture of complex systems This Special Issue of Industrial and Corporate... more
In 2000, Carliss Baldwin and Kim Clark published “Design Rules: The Power of Modularity,” a book that introduced new ways of understanding and explaining the architecture of complex systems This Special Issue of Industrial and Corporate Change celebrates this seminal work, the research it has inspired, and the insights that these collective efforts have generated. In this introductory essay, we review the impact of “Design Rules” across numerous fields, including organization theory, competitive strategy, industry structure, and innovation management. We offer perspectives on key themes that emerge from contributions in this issue, including the alignment between organizational and technical designs (“mirroring”), the dynamics of industry evolution, and the role that individuals play in shaping and responding to system designs. We close by highlighting opportunities to apply the theory in Design Rules to new phenomena and puzzles that have emerged in the past 20 years.
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Some strategic decisions will long be remembered for being remarkably successful, providing dramatic benefits to customers, investors, or social welfare. The individuals who make these decisions are often called “visionary.” But what... more
Some strategic decisions will long be remembered for being remarkably successful, providing dramatic benefits to customers, investors, or social welfare. The individuals who make these decisions are often called “visionary.” But what enables some people to be visionary? Is it a gift or skill, and can it be learned? In this paper I identify three main cognitive processes that underlie the creation of visionary strategy: abstraction, idealism, and long paths of analytical reasoning. Using a combination of examples and cognitive science, I explain how they work individually and in combination, and how they may be cultivated.