Knowledge inventories and managerial myopia

Managing knowledge inventories is the central issue posed by the knowledge-based view of the firm. Knowledge inventory management involves acquiring, retaining, deploying, idling, and abandoning technologies. Because of future opportunities to switch technologies over time, managing knowledge inventories requires valuing flexibility. Real option theory presents normative conceptual frameworks and pricing formulas for valuing flexibility. These formulas assume managers consider the full time horizon of technologies as well as all available substituting and complementary technologies. This study considers the implications of violations of these assumptions (i.e., temporal and spatial myopia) for managers' technology investment decisions. Specifying decision criteria under alternative forms of myopia reveals possible sources and patterns of technology management decision errors. This study highlights the cognitive sources of path dependencies and organizational rigidities. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.