Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/100934
Title: Balancing breadth and depth of expertise for innovation : a 3M story
Authors: Boh, Wai Fong
Evaristo, Roberto
Ouderkirk, Andrew
Keywords: DRNTU::Business::Marketing::Research
Issue Date: 2013
Source: Boh, W. F., Evaristo, R., & Ouderkirk, A. (2013). Balancing breadth and depth of expertise for innovation : a 3M story. Research policy.
Series/Report no.: Research policy
Abstract: This study examines how inventors’ breadth and depth of expertise influence innovation in 3M, a company renowned for sustained innovation for over a century. While prior research tends to examine a single indicator – the technical success achieved by the inventor – our study differentiates between three indicators of a successful inventor: (1) the number of inventions generated; (2) the extent to which the inventor has a significant impact in his or her technical domain; and (3) the inventor's career success, in terms of the commercial value they have brought by converting their inventions into products that generate sales for commercial organizations. We found that breadth of inventor expertise relates to the generation of many inventions, but not necessarily to those that are technically influential. Depth of inventor expertise enables individuals to generate technically influential inventions, as measured by patents granted. However, both breadth and depth of expertise are required for innovators to be deemed highly valuable, based on their records of effectively converting inventions into commercially successful products. Our study extends prior research on innovation in two ways. We provide a comprehensive view of how inventors’ expertise influences innovation and also show how inventors with different expertise profiles can contribute in unique ways to their organization.
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/100934
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/18209
ISSN: 0048-7333
DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2013.10.009
Schools: Nanyang Business School 
Organisations: 3M
Rights: © 2013 ELSEVIER. This is the author created version of a work that has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication by Research Policy, ELSEVIER. It incorporates referee’s comments but changes resulting from the publishing process, such as copyediting, structural formatting, may not be reflected in this document. The published version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2013.10.009 .
Fulltext Permission: open
Fulltext Availability: With Fulltext
Appears in Collections:NBS Journal Articles

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