Showing papers by "David J. Teece published in 2015"

Business Model Innovation and Organizational Design: A Dynamic Capabilities Perspective

Abstract: Dynamic capabilities are deeply enmeshed with business model innovation and implementation. Dynamic capabilities reside in the collective learning and culture of the organization and in the entrepreneurial skill of the top management team. Entrepreneurial managers bear the primary responsibility for recognizing the need for business model change, for adjusting or inventing business models, for orchestrating the necessary assets, and for (re)structuring the organization as needed. They are also responsible for strategy formulation, which is separate from, but related to, dynamic capabilities. The organization’s structure, incentives, and culture can, in turn, be more or less well suited to the recognition of new opportunities and the implementation of new structures that are integral to the dynamic capabilities of the firm. In short, the generation of new business models requires entrepreneurial managers to balance attention to customer needs and technological possibilities with the logic of organization.

Intangible Assets and a Theory of Heterogeneous Firms

Abstract: This article outlines a capabilities-enriched economic theory of the firm and its sources of competitive advantage. The nature and key categories of intangibles are discussed, with an emphasis on their suitability for providing differentiation in an era when so many services and tangible goods are readily available on a global basis. The linkages in the conversion of intangibles into profits are analyzed, including the frequent need for co-specialized complements. Among the key categories of intangibles are organizational capabilities, which can be either ordinary or dynamic. Ordinary capabilities are, generally, those that can be measured against best practice and with some effort, imitated by rivals. Dynamic capabilities, which reside in both signature processes and management skills, allow the enterprise and its top management to develop conjectures about the evolution of consumer preferences, business problems, markets, and technology; validate them; and realign assets and competences to enable continuous innovation for the creation of competitive advantage. The key concepts of complementarity, entrepreneurial management, and dynamic capabilities are then applied to deepening the economic theory of the firm, combining with the dominant transaction cost approach to provide a richer understanding of why firms are needed in the economic system.

Untangling the Patent Thicket Literature

Abstract: At least 164 papers have defined a ‘patent thicket’ since the first mention of the term in 1988. There is no canonical definition. Instead authors use the term to refer to various combinations of seven different underlying economic issues. An average paper in 2001 used a definition based on 1.2 of these issues, and the complexity of definitions grew by 35% over the following decade. This increase in definitional complexity is partly a response to a growing sophistication in the broader literature on the economics of patents. However, repeat authors are frequently inconsistent in their definitions, and overall there is evidence of a growing confusion concerning patent thickets. Our analysis largely resolves this confusion. It also suggests that ill-advised policy reform efforts, and not patent thickets themselves, threaten the health of the innovation

Diversification, Relatedness, and the New Logic of Co-Creation

Abstract: This article is a revision of the previous edition article by R.A. Lowe and D.J. Teece, volume 6, pp. 3574–3578, © 2001, Elsevier Ltd.