Title: Inter-organisational learning in cases of disruptive innovation

Authors: John P. Meyer; Jeffrey W. Alstete

Addresses: Department of Management and Business Administration, School of Business, Iona College, 715 North Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10801-1890, USA ' Department of Management and Business Administration, School of Business, Iona College, 715 North Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10801-1890, USA

Abstract: This paper explores why it often takes an inter-organisational learning effort to realise the practical potential of disruptive innovation. A pattern matching methodology is used to systematically compare a theoretical pattern of learning to an empirically derived pattern. The empirical pattern is developed from an archival case history of inter-organisational learning during the early stages of the personal computer industry. The results of this study suggest that in cases of disruptive technological innovation, a single organisation is not likely to have the capability to complete the entire learning process on its own. Instead, an inter-organisational effort is necessary with a different organisation taking the knowledge through each successive stage. This study challenges the unity and isolation of the single organisation that is often taken for granted in organisational learning and adds a time-based dimension to the study of inter-organisational learning through use of a longitudinal methodology.

Keywords: organisational learning; innovation; knowledge management; knowledge acquisition/creation/learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2018.093849

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2018 Vol.18 No.3, pp.185 - 200

Received: 20 Mar 2017
Accepted: 18 Jul 2017
Published online: 07 Aug 2018 *

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