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Thought Worlds Colliding: The Role of Contradiction in Corporate Innovation Processes

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  • C. Marlene Fiol

Abstract

Contradiction Is the home of creativity. Creative breakthroughs most often result from the juxtaposition of widely divergent bodies of knowledge and experience. This article develops a model of corporate Innovation that identifies contradictory knowledge components and ways that they combine over time for creative activities to be initiated and developed in large organizations. It illustrates the applicability of the model In the case of a successful corporate new-venture development process. The results support the central argument: Large, multi-functional organizations provide fertile grounds for the seeds of entrepreneurial activities in that they encompass the contradictions needed for creative thought and action.

Suggested Citation

  • C. Marlene Fiol, 1995. "Thought Worlds Colliding: The Role of Contradiction in Corporate Innovation Processes," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 19(3), pages 71-90, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:19:y:1995:i:3:p:71-90
    DOI: 10.1177/104225879501900306
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Deborah Dougherty, 1992. "Interpretive Barriers to Successful Product Innovation in Large Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(2), pages 179-202, May.
    2. C. Marlene Fiol, 1994. "Consensus, Diversity, and Learning in Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(3), pages 403-420, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Neill, Stern & Rose, Gregory M., 2007. "Achieving adaptive ends through equivocality: A study of organizational antecedents and consequences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(4), pages 305-313, April.
    2. Burgers, J. Henri & Jansen, Justin J.P. & Van den Bosch, Frans A.J. & Volberda, Henk W., 2009. "Structural differentiation and corporate venturing: The moderating role of formal and informal integration mechanisms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 206-220, May.
    3. J. Henri Burgers & Jeffrey G. Covin, 2016. "The contingent effects of differentiation and integration on corporate entrepreneurship," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(3), pages 521-540, March.
    4. Kamal Sakhdari & J. Henri Burgers, 2018. "The moderating role of entrepreneurial management in the relationship between absorptive capacity and corporate entrepreneurship: an attention-based view," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 927-950, December.
    5. Miguel Cunha & Arménio Rego & Antonino Vaccaro, 2014. "Organizations as Human Communities and Internal Markets: Searching for Duality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(4), pages 441-455, April.
    6. Trudy Heller, 1999. "Loosely Coupled Systems for Corporate Entrepreneurship : Imagining and Managing the Innovation Project/Host Organization Interface," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 24(2), pages 25-31, December.
    7. Scott, Susan V., 2010. "Understanding the characteristics of techno-innovation in an era of self-regulated financial services," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 37867, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Shaker A. Zahra & Daniel F. Jennings & Donald F. Kuratko, 1999. "The Antecedents and Consequences of Firm-Level Entrepreneurship: The State of the Field," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 24(2), pages 45-65, December.
    9. Michael A. Hitt & Robert D. Nixon & Robert E. Hoskisson & Rahul Kochhar, 1999. "Corporate Entrepreneurship and Cross-Functional Fertilization: Activation, Process and Disintegration of a New Product Design Team," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 23(3), pages 145-168, April.
    10. Patricia G. Greene & Candida G. Brush & Myra M. Hart, 1999. "The Corporate Venture Champion: A Resource-Based Approach to Role and Process," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 23(3), pages 103-122, April.
    11. Sebastian Raisch & Michael L. Tushman, 2016. "Growing New Corporate Businesses: From Initiation to Graduation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(5), pages 1237-1257, October.

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