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research article

R&D Team Diversity and Performance in Hypercompetitive Environment

Hoisl, Karin
•
Gruber, Marc  
•
Conti, Annamaria
2017
Strategic Management Journal

Research summary: This article examines the effects of an R&D team's composition on its performance outcomes in hypercompetition. The fundamental feature of firms in hypercompetitive settings is that they are constantly challenged to improve their competitiveness in a relentless race to outperform one another. Analyzing a unique data set from the Formula 1 motorsport racing industry, we find an inverse U-shaped relationship between team diversity in task-related experience and performance an important result that diverges from well-established theories developed in more stable environments. Fundamentally, we show that the role of R&D team experience diversity varies depending on the size of the organizations in which R&D teams operate. While we find a moderating effect for firm age, this effect is not as robust as that of firm size. Managerial summary: This article examines the relationship between R&D team composition and performance in fast-moving environments. Firms in these environments are constantly challenged to improve their competitiveness by outperforming one another. Analyzing a unique data set from the Formula 1 motorsport racing industry, we find that a team's diversity in job-related experience increases its performance up to a certain extent. Once R&D teams become too diverse, performance decreases because communication and coordination become more difficult. We also show that the role of R&D team diversity varies depending on the size of the organizations in which R&D teams operate. Overall, our findings provide several novel implications for the strategy, innovation, and team literatures. Copyright (c) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  • Details
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Type
research article
DOI
10.1002/smj.2577
Web of Science ID

WOS:000402297300005

Author(s)
Hoisl, Karin
Gruber, Marc  
Conti, Annamaria
Date Issued

2017

Published in
Strategic Management Journal
Volume

38

Issue

7

Start page

1455

End page

1477

Subjects

innovation

•

hypercompetition

•

R&D

•

teams

•

experience diversity

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
ENTC  
Available on Infoscience
March 13, 2017
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/135286
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