The Nature And Dynamics Of Organizational Capabilities

The Nature and Dynamics of Organizational Capabilities This page intentionally left blank The Nature and Dynamics of Organizational Capabilities edited by Giovanni Dosi, Richard R. Nelson, and Sidney G. Winter Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © The several contributors 2000 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2000 Published new as paperback 2002 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available ISBN 0-19-829680-0 (hbk.) ISBN 0-19-924854-0 (pbk.) Preface This book has painstakingly but excitingly emerged from an international research project which originally grew at the International Institute of Applied System Analysis (IIASA), Laxemburg, Austria within the Technological and Economic Dynamics (TED) Project and was completed drawing on the precious support of the ‘Dynacom’ Project financed by the European Union (under the TSER/DG XII Programme). It has been made possible by the enthusiastic effort of a wide invisible college of scholars who accepted to forgo any reasonable cost-benefit analysis in terms of time investment vs. financial rewards in order to contribute to an enterprise which at the start most would have regarded as a far-cry into the properties of self-organization. At least in the judgement of the editors of this book, it turned out to be indeed a major success, possibly a future reference in the field. It is hopeless to try to acknowledge all friends and colleagues who contributed with their comments and criticism throughout the process. Within the large community of collaborators who made this book possible, we would like just to mention the patient and loyal help of Yasmine Taher, our secretary at IIASA, who motherly followed the vicissitudes of chapter contributors and editors of the book. This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Figures List of Tables Notes on Contributors Introduction: The Nature and Dynamics of Organizational Capabilities G. DOSI, R. R. NELSON, and S. G. WINTER Part I Introduction to Part I. Organizational Capabilities 1. Talking about Routines in the Field A. NARDUZZO, E. ROCCO, and M. WARGLIEN 2. Repositories of Knowledge in Franchise Organizations L. ARGOTE and E. DARR 3. Appropriability and the Challenge of Scope G. SZULANSKI 4. Limited Inquiry and Intelli