Effects of consolidating multiple laboratories on inventor collaboration networks and engagement with novel technological domains

Abstract

Organizations aim to overcome path dependency in technological capabilities by diversifying knowledge internally through interfirm and cross-functional innovation. This study investigates the impact of the obeya (big room) concept—a collaborative workspace where diverse disciplines converge in a single room to enhance team coordination, cooperation, and communication—on open innovation within research and development (R&D) organizations. We examined the effects of applying the obeya concept using longitudinal patent data from Japanese Firm A. These data spanned four years before and after obeya’s adoption, allowing us to analyze knowledge exchange within collaborative research networks of inventors through social network analysis. The analysis confirmed that introducing the obeya concept decreased overall network density while increasing transitivity for the entire collaborative research network. For individual inventors, it improved degree centrality and decreased betweenness centrality. Our network position analysis further revealed that inventors’ network positions after adopting obeya significantly influenced their acquisition of new technological knowledge and subsequent knowledge diversification. These findings support the idea that implementing the obeya concept in R&D organizations helps inventors acquire new technological knowledge, thereby developing their absorptive capacity.