The organizational design of high-tech startups and product innovation

Christoph Grimpe, Martin Murmann and Wolfgang Sofka
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Christoph Grimpe: Copenhagen Business School ; ZEW Mannheim
Martin Murmann: Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany ; University of Zurich ; ZEW Mannheim

No 201801, IAB-Discussion Paper from Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany]

Abstract: "We investigate whether appointing a middle management level affects startups' innovation performance. Additional hierarchical levels are often suspected to restrict innovative activities. However, founders' capacities for information processing and resource allocation are usually strongly limited while, at the same time, R&D decisions are among the most consequential choices of startups. We argue that middle management is positively related to introducing product innovations because it improves the success rates from recombining existing knowledge as well as managing R&D personnel. In addition, we suggest that the effectiveness of these mechanisms depends on the riskiness of a startup's business opportunity. Based on a sample of German high-tech startups, we find support for our conjectures." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Keywords: Bundesrepublik Deutschland; Auswirkungen; Forschung und Entwicklung; Hochtechnologie; innerbetriebliche Hierarchie; Innovationsfähigkeit; mittlere Führungskräfte; Organisationsstruktur; Produktinnovation; Projektmanagement; Unternehmensgründung; Unternehmensorganisation; 2005-2012 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J21 L22 L23 L26 M12 M13 M51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 34 pages
Date: 2018-01-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-ent, nep-ind, nep-ino, nep-lma and nep-sbm
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Published in/as: Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Vol. 13, No. 3 (2019), S. 359-378, doi:10.1002/sej.1330

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https://doku.iab.de/discussionpapers/2018/dp0118.pdf

Related works:
Working Paper: The organizational design of high-tech startups and product innovation (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201801

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