This paper argues for the important role of customers as a source of competitive advantage and firm growth, an issue which has been largely neglected in the resource-based view of the firm. It conceptualizes Penrose's (1959) notion of an 'inside track' and illustrates how in-depth knowledge...

The quality of research is central to scientific organizations. But how to evaluate research practice and quality when managing research? There is not one standard for what “good research” is. In a recent study, we developed a model for evaluating research practice and quality and in this...

This paper advances the understanding of absorptive capacity by disentangling its four distinct sub-dimensions. Most of the studies in extant literature have treated absorptive capacity as unidimensional concept and as a firm-level construct without paying due attention to its organizational...

We document how, in the early years of high technology firms, the origination of technological knowledge starts with firm founders, then shifts to other firm members, and later on to external stakeholders. We further show that greater reliance on founder technological knowledge is initially...

Research summary We argue that interrelated processes of knowledge codification and uncertainty reduction lead to the contraction of vertical firm boundaries of new high technology ventures over time. Consistent with our arguments we show that, over time, the outsourcing of R&D is slower than...