http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/2081912722

Technology markets, technology organization, and appropriating the returns of research

This paper proposes a model of the factors that affect a company's ability to capture the returns from its investments in research. The nature of the technology and the organizational configuration of the firm together determine how a company can capture value from its research. Under conditions of technological modularity, technologies developed in one company's research laboratories might "leak" into the open market. Under conditions of technological integrality, firms that conduct research can capture better the returns from their investments in creating new technology. The key is to align organizational structure with the character of technology. Under modular conditions, centralized structures impose inappropriate overheads; firms need to organize themselves in a decentralization fashion to capture value here. Under integral conditions, however, decentralization cannot coordinate complex interdependencies, and centralized structures are necessary to realize value.

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