Chapter 1 – THE CALVINO’s METHOD AS GRAMMAR OF INNOVATION -- CHAPTER 2 – LIGHTNESS -- CHAPTER 3 – QUICKNESS -- CHAPTER 4 – EXACTITUDE -- CHAPTER 5 – VISIBILITY -- CHAPTER 6 – MULTIPLICITY -- CHAPTER 7 – CONSISTENCY -- POSTSCRIPT.

External knowledge acquisition represents a precondition for firms’ competitive advantage. However, young firms find it particularly difficult to gain access to external sources of knowledge: young firms suffer from a liability of newness by exhibiting significantly lower propensities to...

To introduce new products and processes, firms often need to acquire knowledge developed in other firms and organizations. Drawing on social capital and transaction cost theory, we argue that not only is the success of such acquisitions for the development of product and product innovations...