Product success implications of distant innovative knowledge

Knowledge is a key factor of product innovation. While there are typical internal sets of knowledge within the firm’s industry scope, there are external sources of knowledge, namely, distant sources of knowledge. In this paper, we use the technology-brokering framework to explore whether intensive discontinuous knowledge, often referred as distant innovative knowledge (DIK), generates higher prospects of product success—thereby, increasing economic value for the firm. Specifically, the study deals with the phenomenon of shifting and implementing intensive innovative knowledge, located beyond the firm’s business environment—in distant sources, to create an innovation in the current market. Following a strict hand collected data we find that, among high business-strategy innovation companies, there is a statistically significant positive effect of DIK use on product success. We identify a diminishing extent of DIK use throughout the product-life-cycle stages. Moreover, the type of DIK knowledge use—i.e., technological, production, and marketing—changes over the course of product market evolution. Hence, the study results suggest important implications for both academics and practitioners.