Brown bag seminar with Brian Silverman

The Chair of Strategic Management and Innovation at ETH invites you to the brown bag seminar with:

Brian Silverman
University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management
external page Speaker website

Date: Wednesday, March 12, 12:00-14:00
Location: WEV H 326

Presentation title: The Organizational Structure of Development and Firm Innovation

Abstract
Prior studies exploring the relationship between organization of corporate R&D and innovation have focused almost entirely on research activities. We examine the relationship between organization structure and development activities. We hypothesize that organization structure has an impact on development that is distinct from that on research. Specifically, centralization of development is associated with reduced duplication of development effort; however, the likelihood that a given invention will be commercialized is lower for centralized development than decentralized development. Moreover, the trade-off between duplication and commercialization is stronger for technologies that are visible to end-users, notably userinterface technologies. We test these hypotheses using a unique dataset that is composed of all invention disclosures submitted by R&D personnel at a global ICT company. Exploiting a shift in the organization of
development activities, we examine subsequent changes in development outcomes. We find support for our hypotheses.


About the speaker
Brian Silverman is Professor of Strategic Management, and the J.R.S. Prichard and Ann Wilson Chair in Management, at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Brian's research focuses on the ways in which a firm’s competitive strategy and organizational structure interact to affect its performance. His work has appeared in numerous academic journals including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, American Journal of Sociology, Journal of Law and Economics, Management Science, Research Policy, and Strategic Management Journal. His research has been discussed in popular-press venues such as Business Week Online, Glamour Magazine, Slate.com, Sloan Management Review, and The New York Times. He is currently co-editor of Strategic Management Journal.

Prior to rejoining the Rotman School in 2001, Brian was Assistant Professor of Competition and Strategy at Harvard Business School, where he taught the core strategy course and jointly developed an elective on Technology and Competitive Strategy with faculty at the MIT Media Laboratory. He has been a Visiting Professor at Columbia University, Copenhagen Business School, London Business School, New York University, Singapore Management University, Technion, Université de Paris-Sorbonne, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, and the Wharton School. (And he’s always looking for new places to visit!) He holds the A.B. in economics from Harvard College, the S.M. in management from MIT Sloan, and the M.A. in economics and Ph.D. in business administration from UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.


We look forward to welcoming you!