BRIDGING THE MUTUAL KNOWLEDGE GAP: COORDINATION AND THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF RADICAL SCIENCE

This study examines why some inventions are commercialized. We focus on the coordination costs within the inventor team to further develop the technology and the coordination costs involved in transferring knowledge to licensee firms. We test whether the variation in levels of mutual knowledge in scientist teams influences the likelihood that their inventions will be licensed. We test our predictions in a large sample of 4,575 invention disclosures by teams of scientists. We find a pattern of results that confirm that the anticipated coordination costs influence whether an invention is licensed. The implications for the literatures in coordination and innovation are discussed.