TY - JOUR
T1 - Why corporate science commercialization fails
T2 - Integrating diverse perspectives
AU - Zahra, Shaker A.
AU - Kaul, Aseem
AU - Bolívar-Ramos, María Teresa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Academy of Management Perspectives
PY - 2018/2/1
Y1 - 2018/2/1
N2 - Corporate science-basic scientific knowledge developed by for-profit firms-is an important driver of both scientific progress and commercial development. However, mounting evidence suggests that while difficult and expensive to produce, much of the knowledge this science generates goes uncommercialized. Given the benefits companies and their shareholders could derive from corporate science, we analyze the factors that lead to failure to commercialize it. Specifically, we propose that institutional, knowledge, capability, agency, organizational design, and cognitive forces combine to cause this failure. Further, we integrate the different theoretical perspectives related to each of these forces to delineate the factors that impede the commercialization of corporate science and clarify their implications for future research, public policy, and managers. Drawing parallels with university-based research, we also highlight the importance of science as a source of value creation, an issue that has been relatively underexplored in the management literature despite its value to firms, their stakeholders, and society.
AB - Corporate science-basic scientific knowledge developed by for-profit firms-is an important driver of both scientific progress and commercial development. However, mounting evidence suggests that while difficult and expensive to produce, much of the knowledge this science generates goes uncommercialized. Given the benefits companies and their shareholders could derive from corporate science, we analyze the factors that lead to failure to commercialize it. Specifically, we propose that institutional, knowledge, capability, agency, organizational design, and cognitive forces combine to cause this failure. Further, we integrate the different theoretical perspectives related to each of these forces to delineate the factors that impede the commercialization of corporate science and clarify their implications for future research, public policy, and managers. Drawing parallels with university-based research, we also highlight the importance of science as a source of value creation, an issue that has been relatively underexplored in the management literature despite its value to firms, their stakeholders, and society.
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U2 - 10.5465/amp.2016.0132
DO - 10.5465/amp.2016.0132
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85044071650
SN - 1558-9080
VL - 32
SP - 156
EP - 176
JO - Academy of Management Perspectives
JF - Academy of Management Perspectives
IS - 1
ER -