Organizational Learning Sequences in Technological Innovation : Evidence from the Biopharmaceutical and Medical Device Sectors

Organisations engage in various activities designed to foster effective learning. Three forms of learning with important implications for the innovation process are experiential (whereby firms gain relevant insights through direct experience with patterns of action), vicarious (observation of external activities, with inference and other attributions being employed to reconstruct the underlying processes) and inter-organisational (direct contact with outside entities). This paper examines the influence of these forms of learning throughout the process of technological innovation. Using interview and archival data from 11 innovation projects in biopharmaceuticals and medical devices, I uncover evidence of three distinct learning sequences: (1) intensive-externalising (IE); (2) intensive-internalising (II); and (3) expansive-internalising (EI). The sequences vary both in the breadth of learning forms utilised and in the degree to which resultant knowledge is internalised as subsequent innovations are pursued. These findings offer useful insights into the locus and sources of learning for innovation processes in technologically complex settings