Balancing inertia, innovation, and imitation in complex environments.
Journal of Economic Issues › Vol. 40 Nbr. 2, June 2006
Linked as:
Extract
Balancing inertia, innovation, and imitation in complex environments.
Since Thorstein Veblen, perennial themes in institutionalist writings have included the role of imitation (or emulation) and the tension between inertia (or conservatism) and innovation in individual and organizational behavior. Prior models of organizational behavior have examined two search processes that represent this tension. One is local search, in which an organization restricts experimentation to a single attribute at a time. In contrast, distant search is associated with changing all of the organization's attributes, in other words, extreme innovativeness. In both cases, the organization adopts the new form if its fitness is thereby improved.
Previous research has established that high levels of complexity favor extreme innovativeness (distant search) over a modest level of inertia (local search). However, it is unclear if organizations balancing inertia and innovativeness at intermediate levels may have an advantage over these extremes (Sorenson...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
