Strategy, Organization & Innovation
Luis Adrian
Rios
Assistant Professor of Strategy
Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business
Purdue University
Editorial Board — Strategic Management Journal
Editorial Board — Organization Science
Editorial Board — Journal of Organization Design
Research Program
The Architecture of Adaptation
Firms do not adapt on a blank slate. Their ability to invent, acquire, absorb external knowledge, reorganize, and survive is shaped by the organizational architectures they inherit and build: formal structures, internal knowledge networks, firm boundaries, and early environmental conditions.
My research examines how these architectures shape the adaptive range of firms over time. Across studies of R&D organization, inventor networks, technological acquisitions, corporate groups, hiring, and high-growth ventures, I show that adaptation is not simply a managerial response to changing markets. It is conditioned by durable structures that make some strategic moves easier, others costly, and others increasingly difficult to reach.
Classic work in strategy, organization theory, and innovation has long recognized the tension between adaptation and constraint. My work builds on this tradition by documenting and quantifying how organizational architecture converts past choices into future strategic possibilities and constraints. Using large-sample econometrics, network analysis, and computational modeling, I show how structures that initially help firms coordinate knowledge, access external resources, or survive environmental shocks also shape the strategic paths firms can later recognize, pursue, and sustain.
