Learning to Be Capable : Patenting and Licensing at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation 1925-2002

The effects of experiential learning on the cost of capability development are explored based on historical data on patenting and licensing activities from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The primary purpose of this study is to examine the influence of an organization's experience-based learning on the development and deployment of its capabilities. This capability development involves processes by which firms generate new routines or modify existing routines and resource configurations to create a potential to achieve particular outputs that are in line with the organizations' goals. Another contribution of the study is that it expands the policy literature that addresses university technology transfer. The research isolates one mechanism of efficiency-based change—i.e., changes in efficiency (cost of patenting)—as driven by changes in routines and processes captured by experiential learning. By using qualitative and quantitative data, specialized routines in patenting and licensing and how these routines are interconnected and complement each other are documented. Results indicate that when cumulative experience increases, routines in a primary capability may impede the efficient deployment of complementary capabilities, inviting further research into the questions on capabilities and the dynamics of complementarities among them. (JSD)