Research

Job Market Paper

  • When is a Good Time? Firm Innovation in Exploration and Exploitation —Evidence from the Medical Devices Industry

    • In Schumpeterian environments, exploratory innovation advances are captured by those who can exploit them in relatively short periods of time. In this dynamic between exploration and exploitation, scholars have found incumbents and startups’ to concurrently shape a domain’s innovation activities trajectories. Yet, less is known about the timing and triggers for transitions between exploration and exploitation types of innovation, specifically as to whether these transitions unfold similarly or in distinctive patterns for incumbents and startups. I seek to address this question by drawing on the literatures of exploration and exploitation as well as complementary assets. I argue incumbents, with regulatory capabilities and design in innovation would be at an advantage relative to startups in transitioning to more exploratory innovations, in a product domain. My analysis is based on over 30,000 product introductions across all 19 FDA-determined medical groups, representing product introductions of over 650 medical device firms in the US between 1990 and 2020. This study advances our understanding of how incumbents and startups use complementary assets in transitioning between exploration and exploitation in Schumpeterian environments. Further, I extend our understanding of how complementary asset development within firms, may differ for incumbents and startups and thus strategies for shifting between modes of innovation.

    • Target: Organization Science

Publications

  • Wubneh, K. (2020). Do You See What I See? Corporate Venture Capital, Institutional Environment Risk and Investment in New Ventures. Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, 40(14). Babson Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Wellesley MA.

Manuscripts in Progress

  • Yes, Get Closer to Your Enemies: Rivals’ Product Entry and Focal Firm’s Shifts in Exploration Focus. [With Professor Francisco Polidoro] (target: Organization Science)

  • External Evaluators Learning?—Exploration and Exploitation in Product Innovation. [With Professor Francisco Polidoro] (target: Organization Science)

  • New Wine in an Old Bottle? How Analysts Evaluate Product Failures During Technological Change, [With Professor Ram Ranganathan] (target: Strategic Management Journal)