Innovation objectives, knowledge sources, and the benefits of breadth

Abstract

Given the inherent risk of innovative activity, firms can improve the odds of success by pursuing multiple parallel objectives. Because innovation draws on many sources of ideas, firms also may improve their odds of successful innovation by accessing a large number ofknowledge sources. In this study, we conduct one of the first firm-level statistical analyses of the impact on innovation of breadth in both innovation objectives and knowledge sources. The empirical results suggest that broader horizons with respect to innovation objectives and knowledge sources are associated with successful innovation. We do not find diminishing returns to breadth in innovation objectives, which suggests that firms may tend to search too narrowly. We interpret these results in light of well-known cognitive biases toward searching in relatively familiar domains. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.