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Table Figure 1 Growth that compounds

The information-to-innovation path card

Trace a signal through recognition, assimilation, application, orientation, coordination, and an observable innovation outcome.

Path fieldRequired questionRelease boundary
SignalWhat external information entered, when, and from where?Do not call collection absorptive capacity.
Prior knowledgeWhich related knowledge makes the signal interpretable?Keep domain and path dependence visible.
RecognitionWhat value or problem was noticed?Record why the signal matters here.
AssimilationHow was the signal translated and connected to existing work?Distinguish understanding from storage.
ApplicationWhich action, offer, process, or experiment uses it?Name the application boundary.
Mode and orientationIs the next move exploratory or exploitative, and which customer or competitor orientation is involved?Do not collapse orientations or modes.
CoordinationWhich functions must connect for the application to travel?Coordination is a condition to inspect, not a guaranteed effect.
OutcomeWhat observable change qualifies as innovation for this decision?Separate learning activity from innovation outcome.

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Reference & Evidence

Source: Author's framework grounded in Cohen and Levinthal (1990) and Atuahene-Gima (2005). The fields and examples are synthetic; no firm data or innovation outcome is supplied.

Each line is a claim from the register this journal publishes against, resolved from the register at build time.

  • A The definition, in the authors' words: "the ability of a firm to recog"nize the value of new external information, "assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends is critical to its innovative capabilities", and "we label this capability a firm's absorptive capacity" Cohen & Levinthal. (1990) · CL90-C1
  • A What it is a function of: absorptive capacity is "largely a function of the firm's level of prior related knowledge", whose cognitive basis is "prior related knowledge and diversity of background" Cohen & Levinthal. (1990) · CL90-C2
  • A The path-dependence argument, in the authors' words: "which R&D contributes to a firm's absorptive capacity", and "the development of absorptive capacity, and, in turn, innovative performance are history- or path-depen"dent, so that a "lack of investment in an area of ex"pertise "early on may foreclose the future development of a technical capability in that area" Cohen & Levinthal. (1990) · CL90-C3
  • A The dilemma in the author's words: "how to exploit existing product innovation competencies competence exploitation while avoiding their dysfunctional rigidity effects by renewing and replacing them with entirely new competencies competence exploration" Atuahene-Gima. (2005) · ATU05-C1
  • A The proposed resolution: "customer and competitor orientations ensure simultaneous investments in exploiting existing product innovation competencies and exploring new ones" Atuahene-Gima. (2005) · ATU05-C2
  • A And the outcome side, including the moderator: "competence exploitation and exploration have opposing relationships with incremental and radical innovation performance", while "the relationship between competence exploration and radical innovation performance is positively moderated by interfunctional coordination" Atuahene-Gima. (2005) · ATU05-C3

Grades: A, verified against the printed page of the primary source · B, primary source, text layer only · C, authoritative secondary · D, reported.

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