Does early success and market dominance help or hinder future innovative capability?

Many successful innovative companies are acquired and become absorbed into larger more structured organizations. The innovation capabilities of the company change in the new environment depending on the extent to which they are nurtured or overridden. This thesis looks at one particular story of such an acquisition and follows its progress after it has been formally integrated into the acquiring company. More than five years after the acquisition the company's innovation is struggling, perhaps even more so in recent years. This thesis looks at the underlying causes of that struggle, the inflexibility of the larger more structured organization and the resistance of the acquired company, due to its earlier success, to adapt itself to the rigours of a larger company,. The thesis strives to answer the question: "Does early success and market dominance help or hinder future innovative capability?" The author worked with the acquired company, as a management consultant, for a four year period beginning shortly after the company was acquired. The culture then, was strikingly positive and very enjoyable to work in. It had an almost magnetic draw.

Department dc:contributor.department

Management of Technology Program.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• O'Flanagan, Sinead E

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Michael A. Cusumano.

• Management of Technology Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39501

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39501