J West

Experience, experimentation, and the accumulation of knowledge: the evolution of R&D in the semiconductor industry

This paper examines the interaction and impact on performance of two organizational mechanisms supporting generation and retention of knowledge: experience accumulation and experimentation. It provides evidence that generation of knowledge through experimentation and retention of knowledge through experience were significantly correlated with performance, whereas other measures of R&D commitment and organization, including several suggested by prior studies, were not. It argues that experience and experimentation can function as at least partial substitutes for one another, possessing more of one, firms may need less of the other, and provides evidence that they were so in the semiconductor industry. The evolution of practice at one firm—Intel Corporation—is explored at greater length, providing a qualitative perspective on the process by which a shift towards greater experimentation occurred.

Institutions, information processing, and organization structure in research and development: evidence from the semiconductor industry

This paper examines some determinants of the choice between focused and distributed modes of organization in research and development (R&D). It argues that as organizations face mounting information-processing challenges, posed by complexity and uncertainty and inherent in innovation, they gravitate towards either a focused or distributed organizational form. The paper argues further that the institutional context within which organizations operate exerts an important influence on their choice between these forms. These themes are explored through a statistical analysis of programs to develop novel manufacturing processes in the global semiconductor industry. The results show that while Japanese organizations adhered to a distributed form of organization, US firms moved towards a more focused mode.

The Mystery of Innovation: Aligning the Triangle of Technology, Institutions and Organisation

This paper draws together some insights from researchers investigating the sources of firm-level innovation, to provide a basis for understanding the strengths and weaknesses of Australia’s national innovation system as it has developed over the last century. This is achieved by synthesizing seven key conclusions from the rapidly growing body of studies of the drivers of innovation, which together offer the potential to ground policy-making in the experience of successful innovating nations.