Special issue of Strategic Organization: 'Organizing Crowds and Innovation'

摘要

25 years ago Administrative Science Quarterly published a highly visible Special Issue on "Technology, Organizations, and Innovation." This Special Issue featured landmark articles that introduced such concepts as absorptive capacity, technology and structure, and architectural innovation. These articles and concepts-many years later-continue to gain attention and to shape the way scholars think about innovation, technological change, strategic management, and organization theory. However, the intervening decades have seen significant shifts in the locus, structure, and nature of innovation. For example, technological changes have decreased computing and communication costs and transformed the nature of organizational boundaries and the ways firms innovate. Of particular interest are the emergence of participatory practices and voluntary contributions that involve multiple external stakeholders in the innovation process. These include practices such as crowdsourcing, online communities, innovation contests, crowdfunding, user innovation, prediction markets, and open innovation. New and existing organizations are utilizing these types of practices to harness the information, wisdom, capacities, and motivations of individuals and communities both inside and outside the firm.