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The renaissance of the "renaissance man"? : specialists vs. generalists in teams of inventors

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dc.affiliation.institutoUC3M. Instituto para el Desarrollo de Empresas y Mercados (INDEM)es
dc.contributor.authorMelero, Eduardo
dc.contributor.authorPalomeras, Neus
dc.contributor.editorUniversidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto para el Desarrollo Empresarial (INDEM)
dc.date.accessioned2012-04-16T12:26:11Z
dc.date.available2012-04-16T12:26:11Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.description.abstractIs there a role for the multifaceted Renaissance Man in modern team-intensive innovation activities? This paper argues that researchers with broad knowledge, also known as generalists, make an especially valuable contribution to innovation teams. Given the re-combinative nature of technological progress, innovation results depend crucially on the skilful matching of different pieces of knowledge. The presence of generalists in innovation teams makes the knowledge recombination process more effective, even if this comes at the cost of reduced knowledge depth. Moreover, typical barriers in team processes become less acute with the presence of generalists. We analyze the role of generalists versus specialists in innovation teams by tracking the trajectories of inventors in the electrical and electronics industry through their patenting activity. Our findings suggest that innovation teams with the contribution of generalists outperform those that rely on a diverse set of specialists
dc.description.sponsorshipFinancial support under Grants ECO2009-08278 and ECO2009-08308 of the Spanish Government is gratefully acknowledged
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.issn1989-8843
dc.identifier.repecid-12-01
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10016/14057
dc.identifier.uxxiDT/0000000801
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofseriesINDEM Working Paper Business Economic
dc.relation.ispartofseries12-01
dc.relation.projectIDGobierno de España. ECO2009-08278
dc.relation.projectIDGobierno de España. ECO2009-08308
dc.rightsAtribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
dc.rights.accessRightsopen access
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
dc.subject.ecienciaEmpresa
dc.titleThe renaissance of the "renaissance man"? : specialists vs. generalists in teams of inventors
dc.typeworking paper*
dspace.entity.typePublication
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