 Firm-Specificity in Corporate Applied R&DConstance E. Helfat
Organization Science, 1994, vol. 5, issue 2, 173-184 Abstract: Much corporate research and development (R&D) has characteristics that tie it strongly to the firm in which it takes place, and which may make the process of undertaking R&D or the outcome of the R&D difficult for other firms to duplicate perfectly. That is, the R&D is firm-specific. This is particularly true for more highly applied R&D, which tends to involve incremental technological change and often entails alterations and enhancements to existing firm assets, production processes, and products. The often firm-specific nature of corporate R&D tends to receive relatively little attention in the study of technological innovation. This article outlines the primary characteristics of firm-specificity in R&D, and discusses two interrelated consequences of such firm-specificity: (1) heterogeneity in the R&D applications of firms within an industry, and (2) increased ability of firms to earn returns to R&D (often termed “appropriability”). Both factors have important implications for firm strategy. Empirical evidence from the U.S. petroleum industry is presented that documents differences between firms in their R&D applications. The evidence is consistent with firm-specificity in R&D. Keywords: innovation; research and development; firm-specificity (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:5:y:1994:i:2:p:173-184 Access Statistics for this article More articles in Organization Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC. |
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