Open innovation and organizational boundaries
Subtitle: the impact of task decomposition and knowledge distribution on the locus of innovation
By: Karim R. Lakhani, Michael L. Tushman
Contributors: Tushman, Michael; Harvard Business School
Series: Working paper / Harvard Business School -- 12-057; Working paper (Harvard Business School) -- 12-057.
Publisher: Harvard Business School
Published: 2011
Place of publication: [Boston]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 53
Description: This paper contrasts traditional, internal organization-centered models of innovation with more recent work on open innovation. These fundamentally different and inconsistent innovation logics are associated with contrasting organizational boundaries and organizational designs. We suggest that when critical tasks can be modularized and when problem-solving knowledge is widely distributed and available, open innovation complements traditional innovation logics. We induce these ideas from the literature and with extended examples from Apple, NASA, and LEGO. We suggest that task decomposition and problem-solving knowledge distribution are not deterministic but are strategic choices. If dynamic capabilities are associated with innovation streams, and if innovation types are rooted in contrasting innovation logics, there are important implications for the firm, and its boundaries, design, and identity.
Notes: "January 2012" -- Publisher's website.

Includes bibliographical references.