This article studies the learning and capability formation of a biotechnology firm by analysing its development path, which is composed of successive product development and innovation processes. In collaborative product development work, network collaboration, as well as the acquisition of new competences and learning, evolves simultaneously and interactively. Searching for and encountering partners with complementary knowledge and resources is important in the emergence of new product-development processes. To improve understanding of this path formation, the article draws on cultural—historical activity theory, science and technology studies and the epistemology of things and effects. These all underline the significance of material artefacts for learning and activity. The epistemology of things and effects addresses the knowledge of how things work in experimental systems and products. Enzymes, proteins and instruments are put to work in a stabilized way as parts of new products. The effects so mastered entail the functional qualities that make products competitive in the marketplace.
Argyris, C. (1993) Knowledge for Action: A Guide to Overcoming Barriers to Organizational Change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
2.
Baird, D. (2004) Thing Knowledge. Philosophy of Scientific Instruments . Berkeley: University of California Press.
3.
Callon, M. (1986) `The Sociology of Actor—Network: The Case of an Electric Vehicle', in M. Callon, J. Law and A. Rip (eds) Mapping the Dynamics of Science and technology, pp. 19—34. London: Macmillan.
4.
Eisenhardt, K. and Martin, J. (2000) `Dynamic Capabilities: What are They?', Strategic Management Journal21: 1105—21.
5.
Engeström, Y., Miettinen, R. and Punamäki. R.-L. (1999) Perspectives on Activity Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6.
Garud, R. and Karnøe, P. (2001) `Path Creation as a Process of Mindful Deviation' , in R. Garud and P. Karnøe (eds) Path Dependence and Creation , pp. 1—38. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum .
7.
Hacking, I. (1983) Representing and Intervening. Introductory Topics in the Philosophy of Natural Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8.
Håkansson, H. and Snehota, I. (1989) `No Business is an Island: The Network Concept of Business Strategy', Scandinavian Journal of Management5(3): 187—200.
9.
Hjörleifsdóttir, S., Péturdóttir, S., Korpela, J., Torsti, A.-M., Mattila, P. and Kristjansson, J. (1996) `Screening for Restriction Endonucleases in Aerobic, Thermophilic Eubacteria', Biotechnology Techniques10: 13—18.
10.
Ilyenkov, E. (1977) Dialectical Logic. Essays on Its History and Theory . Moscow: Progress.
11.
Kogut, U. and Zander, U. (1992) `Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology', Organization Science3(3): 383—97.
12.
Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning. Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
13.
Latour, B. (1987) Science in Action. How to Follow Scientists and Engineers Through Society. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.
14.
Latour, B. (1999) Pandora's Hope. Essays on the Reality of Science Studies. London: Harvard University Press.
15.
Latour, B. and Woolgar, S. (1979) Laboratory Life: The Construction of Scientific Facts. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
16.
Lehenkari, J. (2000) `Studying Innovation Trajectories and Networks. The Case of Benecol Margarine', Science Studies13(1): 50—67.
17.
Lehenkari, J. (2006) `The Networks of Learning in Technological Innovation: The Emergence of Collaboration Across Fields of Expertise', Dissertation, Department of Education, University of Helsinki. URL (consulted 23 November 2007): http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/kay/kasva/vk/lehenkari
18.
Loikkanen, S. (2004) `Uusi DNA—Polymeraasi ja Diagnostisia Testejä: Finnzymes Laajentaa Tuotepalettiaan' [A New DNA Polymerase and Diagnostic Tests: Finnzymes Expands its Product Range], Kemia-Kemi31(5): 25.
19.
Miettinen, R. (1998) `Object Construction and Networks in Research Work: The Case of Research on Cellulose-degrading Enzymes', Social Studies of Science28(3): 423—63.
20.
Miettinen, R. (1999) `The Riddle of Things. Activity Theory and Actor—Network Theory as Approaches of Studying Innovations', Mind, Culture and Activity6(3): 170—95.
21.
Miettinen, R. (2006a) `Epistemology of Material Transformative Activity: John Dewey's Pragmatism and Cultural—Historical Activity Theory', Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour36(4): 389—408.
22.
Miettinen, R. (2006b) `The Sources of Novelty: A Cultural and Systemic View of Distributed Creativity', Creativity and Innovation Management15(2): 173—81.
23.
Miettinen, R. and Virkkunen, J. (2005) `Epistemic Objects, Artifacts and Organizational Change', Organization12(3): 437—56.
24.
Mossakowski, E. and McKelvey, B. (1997) `Predicting Rent Generation in Competence-based Competition', in A. Heene and R. Sanchez (eds) Competence-based Strategic Management, pp. 66—85. Chichester: Wiley .
25.
Möller, K. and Svan, S. (2003) `Managing Strategic Nets. A Capability Perspective' , Marketing Theory3(2): 209—34.
26.
Nelson, R. and Winter, S. (1982) An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
27.
Powell, W.W. (1998) `Learning from Collaboration: Knowledge and Networks in the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Industries', California Management Review40(3): 228—40.
28.
Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. (1990) `The Core Competence of the Corporation', Harvard Business Review May—June: 79—91.
29.
Price, D. J. de Solla (1984) `Notes Towards a Philosophy of the Science/Technology Interaction', in R. Laudan (ed.) The Nature of Technological Knowledge. Are the Models of Scientific Change Relevant?, pp. 105—14. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Reidel.
30.
Shinn, T. (2005) `New Sources of Radical Innovation: Research-technologies, Transversality and Distributed Learning in a Post-industrial Order', Social Science Information44(4): 731—64.
31.
Teece, D. and Pisano, G. (1994) `The Dynamic Capabilities of Firms: An Introduction' , Industrial and Corporate Change3(3): 537—56.
32.
US Patent 6,627,424 `Nucleic Acid Modifying Enzymes'. Inventor, Yan Wang. Assignee, MJ Bioworks, Inc. Filed, 16 August 2000. Granted, 30 September 2003.
33.
Wang, Y., Prosen, D., Mei, L., Sullivan, J., Finney, M. and Vander Horn, P. (2004) `A Novel Strategy to Engineer DNA Polymerases for Enhanced Processivity and Improved Performance in vitro', Nucleic Acids Research32(3): 1197—207.
34.
Winter, S. (1964) `Economic “Natural Selection” and the Theory of the Firm', Yale Economic Essay4: 225—72.
