Knowledge Creation Strategies and Firm Performance in Emerging Industries: An Empirical Investigation of the Automotive Airbag Industry

该奖项由科学与社会计划的政策，科学，工程和技术组成部分的研究以及创新和组织变革计划共同资助。 该项目通过调查美国的汽车安全气囊行业来研究知识能力和产业结构的共同演变。该行业的几个特点使其成为高科技领域产业崛起的一个很好的例子。首先，产品是复杂的和知识密集型的，并结合了多个知识领域（机械，化学，电气/电子，软件和纺织），因此它的演变提出了一个有趣的案例，研究知识的建设和组合的路径。其次，该行业在相对较短的时间内经历了快速增长。由于政府和汽车行业之间的法律的操纵，汽车安全气囊行业在20年的拖延之后，在不到15年的时间里从不存在发展成为一个数十亿美元的行业。 该项目有两个主要目标。 首先，将通过绘制1970-2000年的专利活动，对企业的知识创造战略进行记录和分类。为此，将创建一个数据库，其中包括该行业提交的所有专利和所有专利引用。出于编码目的，该专利数据集将使用来自档案来源的数据进行扩充。这种定量信息，特别是引用模式，将允许调查知识创造的路径（其流动，添加和组合）随着时间的推移。第二，将知识创造路径的数据与企业生存、市场份额等企业成功的数据相结合，研究知识创造对企业成功乃至产业结构演变的作用。 本项目将通过（a）描述新兴高科技产业中知识创造的路径，以及（B）解释这些知识创造战略对企业绩效和产业结构的影响来建立理论。考虑到技术、经济、战略和法律的方面，该项目将有助于更好地理解技术创新和相关产业结构的共同演变。 提高对知识在新兴产业竞争力中的作用及其创造途径的认识，将有助于提高美国制造业企业的竞争力。研究成果将呈现给学术界、工业界和政府部门的观众。此外，研究结果将纳入PI在密歇根大学教授的技术管理课程。

This award is co-funded by the Studies in Policy, Science, Engineering and Technology component of the Science and Society Program and the Program on Innovation and Organizational Change. The project studies the co-evolution of knowledge capabilities and industry structure by investigating the automotive airbag industry in the U.S. Several characteristics make this industry a good example for industry emergence in the high-tech sector. First, the product is complex and knowledge intensive, and combines multiple knowledge domains (mechanical, chemical, electrical/electronic, software, and textile), and thus its evolution presents an interesting case for studying the path of knowledge building and combination. Second, the industry experienced rapid growth over a relatively short time period. After twenty years of delay due to legal maneuvers between government and the auto industry, the automotive airbag industry grew from non-existence into a multi-billion dollar industry in less than fifteen years. The project has two major objectives. First, firms' knowledge creation strategies will be documented and categorized by mapping their patenting activities from 1970-2000. To do this, a database that includes all patents filed in this industry, and all patent citations will be created. For coding purposes this patent data set will be augmented with data from archival sources. This quantitative information, particularly the citation patterns, will allow investigation of the paths of knowledge creation (its flow, additions, and combinations) over time. Second, through combining the data on knowledge creation paths with data on firm success, such as firm survival and market share, the role of knowledge creation for firm success, and ultimately for the evolution of the industry structure, will be investigated. The project will build theory by (a) describing the paths of knowledge creation in emerging high-tech industries, and (b) explaining the effect of these knowledge creation strategies on firm performance and industry structure. Considering technological, economic, strategic, and legal aspects, the project will contribute to a better understanding of the co-evolution of technological innovations and the related industry structure. The improvement of the understanding of both the role of knowledge for competitiveness in emerging industries and its path of creation will help to increase the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing firms. Research results will be presented to academic, industrial, and governmental audiences. Furthermore, the results will be integrated in a course on Technology Management that the PI teaches at the University of Michigan.