MANAGING INNOVATION DISRUPTIONS: SPILLOVERS ACROSS USERS, FIRMS, AND INVENTORS IN R&D OPERATIONS

Abstract

Research and development (R&D) operations commonly experience innovation disruptions which are susceptible to spillover consequences. This dissertation focuses on how innovation disruptions in healthcare lead to unintended consequences that can benefit some parties and harm others. A multi-level perspective is adopted to develop three empirical studies examining these consequences. The first study shows that implementing AI-enabled exercise monitoring disrupts traditional physiotherapy services in a real-world setting. It suggests that AI-enabled monitoring improves service co-production by sustaining patient’s home exercise participation. In this context, the technology appears to strengthen the patient-provider relationship. The second study examines whether a drug launch by a pharmaceutical firm affects the stability of its other alliances with biotechnology partners. The study shows that successful launches by a pharmaceutical firm are associated with a higher likelihood of alliance termination for biotechnology partners. Therefore, positive innovation outcomes for one firm can be associated with a vulnerability for their partner. The third study examines how drug development project discontinuations affect subsequent inventor-level innovation activities. It demonstrates that discontinuations are associated with increased formation of new collaborations, lower patent output, and higher patent novelty over time, which suggests that negative project events like discontinuations can redirect search toward new technological directions albeit with productivity costs. These studies show that R&D disruptions generate consequences beyond the focal event. They contribute to R&D management research by showing that disruptions are recurrent and have important implications for firm developing innovation, users that participate in or benefit from innovation, and inventors who create it.