Luis Adrian Rios

Research Program

Organizational Structure Knowledge Strategic Change

Assistant Professor of Strategy
Mitch Daniels School of Business · Purdue University
Editorial Boards: Strategic Management Journal · Organization Science
Journal of Organization Design

Luis Adrian Rios

My research asks how organizational structure evolves, why it persists, and how it shapes firms’ knowledge-based activities. I treat structure as both residue and constraint: residue of earlier conditions, and constraint on later strategic action. Across acquisition histories, inventor networks, and computational models, I study when firms remain plastic, when early conditions harden into trajectories, and how internal structures shape the creation, recombination, and appropriation of knowledge.

The program works across three levels of observation. At the firm’s boundary, I examine how environmental conditions are absorbed and persist, both during periods of heightened plasticity and through firms’ ongoing interactions with external knowledge, capital, and capabilities. One level down, I examine organizational structure itself: the formal and informal arrangements that shape how knowledge moves inside the firm. At the core, I model mechanisms that archival data can usually observe only as residue: absorption, inertia, unfreezing, temporal movement, and asymmetric adjustment.

The methods follow the level of the question: archival and quasi-experimental designs at the boundary, patent-based network analysis inside the firm, and formal and computational models for mechanisms.

1.

The Research Program, Mapped

FIG. 1.  Rings mark the level of observation: mechanisms at the core, internal structure and inventor networks in the middle, and the firm-environment interface at the boundary. Box numerals correspond to paper numbers in the CV; card navigation follows the research summary's logic by level. Click any box or circle to see its note.

Program Convergence

Structure is the residue of prior conditions and the constraint through which later knowledge moves.

Across acquisition trajectories, inventor networks, and computational models, the program traces a common dynamic: firms absorb conditions through structure; structure channels the creation, recombination, and appropriation of knowledge; and once set, structure changes asymmetrically.

Featured Visualizations (Published Work)

Two intrafirm inventor network maps for the same firm under different R&D authority structures

FIG. 2.  Two of the intrafirm inventor networks constructed for Argyres, Rios & Silverman (2020): the same firm under different R&D authority structures. Using patent co-invention records, 7,623 of these network snapshots were constructed, one for each firm-year observation. Mathematically derived measures allowed replicable quantification of network structure across the sample and over time.

Two pie charts of patent assignment across corporate affiliates: a decentralized pattern at Johnson & Johnson and a centralized pattern at Abbott Laboratories

FIG. 3.  Patterns of patent assignment from Arora, Belenzon & Rios (2014), top 30 affiliates shown: a decentralized pattern (Johnson & Johnson, left) and a centralized one (Abbott Laboratories, right). Our novel patent-assignment-based measure of R&D decentralization built from these data underlies the finding that decentralized units, positioned at the market boundary, derive more value from external knowledge.

Two simulation panels showing learning histories after hiring: lucky jumps and tug of war

FIG. 4.  Two learning histories after a 'perfect' hire, from Pham, Rios & Workiewicz (2025): 'lucky jumps' (left) and 'tug of war' (right). Star markers are changes proposed by the new hire; round markers, changes resulting from voting rounds with incumbent employees. The inertia, unfreezing, and change phases of the right panel show why the value of hiring is realized dynamically rather than at the moment of acquisition.

Featured Visualizations (Active Projects)

New Directions

Two current streams extend the program from the formation and consequences of structure to the dynamics of change and persistence. Temporal brokerage asks how knowledge moves across disconnected regions of an inventor network when no contemporaneous tie spans the gap. Organizational hysteresis asks how histories of environmental and managerial conditions become current portfolios of activities and commitments, when those portfolios can be rewritten, and when aggregate reports preserve enough of their structure for action. One stream puts time into brokerage; the other formalizes organizational memory and representation.

Temporal brokerage: spanning disconnected regions across time

A classic debate in innovation and network theory highlights the tradeoff between closure and brokerage. High-bandwidth, trust-based transfer thrives inside a dense group (Coleman). Yet access to non-redundant knowledge increases across structural holes (Burt). However, this tension has traditionally been argued in cross-sectional/static settings, with both sides assuming at least one path between every inventor through the network. Recent work in whole intrafirm inventor networks has shown that the second condition is generally not the case, as 40–60% of a large firm’s inventors sit in components with no collaborative path to the giant component or to one another (Argyres, Rios & Silverman 2020). In this project we resolve the tension by studying temporal brokers: inventors embedded in one region at a point in time who then are observed in another region to which there is never a co-temporal path. We argue that spanning the two sequentially rather than simultaneously allows for the ferrying of non-redundant knowledge (a la Burt), without actually bridging the separation that made it differentiated (a la Coleman).

In an analysis of 1,417 firms over 33 years, we find that patents from teams that include a recent temporal broker are more exploratory than those from teams in stable positions. This helps explain the puzzle surfaced in our earlier work (ARS2020 and ARS2025), of why isolated components are so prevalent despite on average being less exploratory than more connected parts of the network. We explore mechanism and asymmetric directionalities in movements. First-authored work with Argyres and Silverman, in preparation.

Giant component Isolated component Temporal broker Movement across time
Connectedness More connected Less connected
Period Movement

FIG. 5.  A dense giant component sits between two isolated inventor components. Set connectedness to add or remove the ties between them. Three illustrative structures are shown (densely linked), one bridging tie (semi-decomposable), or no ties (Isolated). When the clusters are disconnected, two switches appear: Period advances a single inventor from one observation window (T+0) to the next (T+1), moving them across the gap, and Movement sets whether that inventor is outbound (giant → isolate) or inbound (isolate → giant). The mover counts as a temporal broker only here, where no contemporaneous tie joins the regions; the red arc is the bridge across time.

Organizational hysteresis: how history shapes activities and commitments

Hysteresis provides a formal language for selective organizational memory. I model a portfolio of activities and commitments—plants, programs, routines, products, market positions, or other elements—each represented as active or inactive, with a START threshold above its STOP threshold. Because an element can remain active under conditions that would not justify starting it anew, the same current condition can support different portfolios depending on the path taken to reach it.

The agenda currently has two linked parts. The Memory of Persistence studies the write side: which events rewrite the portfolio, how new highs and new lows act differently, and how bounded feasible conditions make some commitments reversible, effectively permanent, or unreachable. On Exactitude in Organization studies the read side: when an exact aggregate count identifies the underlying configuration, when it pools strategically different states, and how much categorical detail restores sufficiency.

Network evolution is one special case, and the one I intend to test empirically first. A potential inventor tie can be treated as a component with a formation threshold and a lower dissolution threshold, so formal changes may build connections more readily than they unwind them. Earlier work provides a natural setting: R&D centralization increased inventor connectedness, while decentralization did not symmetrically reverse it (Argyres, Rios & Silverman 2020).

FIG. 6.  The Preisach plane. Each dot is a hysteron: an organizational activity or commitment with a START threshold α and a lower STOP threshold β. Filled dots are active; hollow dots are inactive. The red staircase separates the two states given the path of the input. The upper-left inset shows the switching rule for one representative component, also marked by the red-ringed dot on the plane.

Instructions:

Adjust input u and the red front sweeps the population: rising input activates components from the left, while falling input deactivates them from the top. The active portfolio therefore depends on the direction of travel, not only on the current value of u. The Input–Output panel traces the resulting path; the dashed outline is the major loop from a full sweep. Reverse course inside it and the trace forms nested minor loops that close on their own turning points, illustrating return-point memory. More hysterons smooth the curve; wider threshold spread fattens the loop; greater dispersion scatters component thresholds outward; and shifting the center produces a biased response. The dashed box marks the feasible input range [−1, 1]. Components with α > 1 cannot be activated within that range, while components with β < −1 cannot be deactivated once active, so the portfolio need not fully saturate or return to its initial state.

2.

Publications & Working Papers

Peer-Reviewed and Conditionally Accepted

1.

Early Environmental Shocks and Organizational Reconfiguration in High-Growth Ventures

Dutta, S., Nahm, J., & Rios, L.A.  ·  Organization Science  ·  Conditionally Accepted

Building on the organizational plasticity framework and data methodology developed in prior work in this program, a study of 19,984 venture-backed startups finds that early disaster exposure imprints structural fluidity that carries a trade-off: it improves market timing while raising mortality risk. LinkedIn personnel histories from a knowledge-intensive subsample show what imprinted fluidity looks like inside the firm: flatter hierarchies, greater role overlap, and broader, non-standard hiring.

Cond. Accept
2.

When Do Firms Learn By Hiring? How Complexity Moderates the Value of New Knowledge

Pham, D.N., Rios, L.A., & Workiewicz, M.  ·  Strategic Management Journal  ·  2025

Computational modeling reveals a mechanism of inertia: firms with high internal fit may face greater difficulty absorbing external knowledge because new hires disrupt tightly matched internal routines, even absent cognitive or social barriers. The value of hiring is realized dynamically rather than at the moment of acquisition.

Winner, Best Paper Award, Behavioral Strategy Interest Group, and nominee, Best Conference Paper Award, SMS Annual Conference 2025.

SMJ
3.

On the Heels of Giants: Internal Network Structure and the Race to Build on Prior Innovation

Argyres, N., Rios, L.A., & Silverman, B.S.  ·  Strategic Management Journal  ·  2025

Drawing on patent and inventor network data, we show that specific network topologies, near-decomposability and integration may influence the speed at which firms build on their own knowledge before rivals can expropriate. We provide the first systematic large-scale documentation of Generative Appropriability, the race to recombine internal knowledge before it leaks and becomes external knowledge for rivals. A novel finding is that this process is strongly conditioned by organizational structure.

SMJ
4.

On the Origin of Technological Acquisition Strategy: The Interaction Between Organizational Plasticity and Environmental Munificence

Rios, L.A.  ·  Strategic Management Journal  ·  2021  ·  Solo Authored

A firm's acquisitiveness is not simply a contemporaneous response to market opportunities. Using 1,201 IPO firms observed over 20 years, this paper shows that favorable conditions during a firm's early plastic period can shape persistent acquisition trajectories that remain visible across later market conditions. External sourcing is not a continuous choice but a trajectory, locked in early and persistent for decades.

Solo
5.

Organizational Change and the Dynamics of Innovation: Formal R&D Structure and Intrafirm Inventor Networks

Argyres, N., Rios, L.A., & Silverman, B.S.  ·  Strategic Management Journal  ·  2020

Using inventor network measures developed in this line of research, formal R&D authority changes propagate through informal inventor networks over a multi-year lag. Centralization increases inventor connectedness, which in turn broadens innovation impact and technological search, showing how formal structure shapes research behavior through informal networks.

SMJ
6.

Make, Buy, Organize: The Interplay Between Research, External Knowledge, and Firm Structure

Arora, A., Belenzon, S., & Rios, L.A.  ·  Strategic Management Journal  ·  2014  ·  342 Citations

Develops a patent-assignment-based measure of R&D decentralization to show how organizational structure shapes the mode of innovation: centralized firms extract more value from internal R&D, while decentralized units, positioned at the market boundary, derive more value from external knowledge.

SMJ
7.

Capital Markets and Firm Organization: How Financial Development Shapes European Corporate Groups

Belenzon, S., Berkowitz, T., & Rios, L.A.  ·  Management Science  ·  2013  ·  178 Citations

Using firm-level data across 15 countries, this paper shows that underdeveloped external capital markets encourage corporate group formation, linking macro-environmental conditions to firm-boundary decisions. Where external markets fall short, firms construct internal ones; a boundary condition becomes an organizational form.

MS

Under Review and Work in Progress

8.

Organization Design and Learning in the Remote Era

Pham, D.N., Rios, L.A., & Workiewicz, M.  ·  Strategic Management Journal  ·  Under Second-Round Review

Computational modeling suggests that remote work can improve outcomes in simple, stable environments but hinder organizational learning in complex, turbulent ones. These effects depend on organizational structure, implying that effective remote-work adaptation may require redesigning communication and coordination architecture, not policy adjustments alone.

R&R
9.

Temporal Knowledge Brokers: Inventor Network Dynamics, Structural Isolation, and the Exploration/Exploitation Dilemma

Rios, L.A. (First Author), Argyres, N., & Silverman, B.S.  ·  Preparing for Strategic Management Journal

Documents inventors who are sequentially embedded, deeply inside one region of the firm's network and then deeply inside another, carrying knowledge across boundaries that no single tie spans. Sequencing may unbundle the closure-brokerage tradeoff: within each region, the high-bandwidth transfer of closure; across regions, the non-redundant access of brokerage. The construct is dynamic embeddedness over time, not a static bridging position in a snapshot.

WP
10.

Persistent Strategies and Performance: The Moderating Role of the Environment

Jena, D., McGrath, P., & Rios, L.A.  ·  Preparing for Organization Science

Group-based trajectory modeling across thousands of firms documents a broad tradeoff: firms following persistent transactional reconfiguration patterns exhibit higher survival rates but lower market valuations. The trajectories associated with survival differ from those associated with value creation.

WP
11.

Alliances and Acquisitions: Complements or Substitutes?

Nary, P. & Rios, L.A.  ·  Preparing for Strategic Management Journal

Compares alliances and acquisitions as alternative channels to external resources, examining the conditions under which the two modes complement one another and those under which they substitute.

WP
12.

On Exactitude in Organization: Hysteretic Aggregation, Representation, and the Sufficiency of Counts

Rios, L.A.  ·  Work in Progress  ·  Solo Authored

Strategic decisions often rely on aggregate dashboards that can conceal action-relevant differences in the underlying organization. This note characterizes when a total count preserves a portfolio of path-dependent commitments and when additional categorical reporting is required; the answer depends on commitment geometry rather than portfolio size.

WIP
13.

The Memory of Persistence: A Formal Model of Organizational Imprinting and Erasure

Rios, L.A.  ·  Work in Progress  ·  Solo Authored

Strategy unfolds through portfolios of activities and commitments inherited from prior environmental conditions and organizational actions. This note models how those histories rewrite, preserve, or selectively unwind the portfolio, and when bounded conditions make commitments reversible, unreachable, or effectively permanent.

WIP

Interdisciplinary & Formal Modeling Publications

Peer-reviewed work on hysteresis, threshold dynamics, and path-dependent switching. These papers provide formal foundations for my current agenda on organizational memory, representation, asymmetric adjustment, and the persistence of structure.

14.

A Model of Hysteresis Arising from Social Interaction within a Firm

Rios, L.A.(first author), Rachinskii, D., & Cross, R.  ·  Journal of Physics: Conference Series

Uses formal hysteresis modeling to examine how social interaction within firms can generate path-dependent organizational outcomes.

Formal
15.

On the Rationale for Hysteresis in Economic Decisions

Rios, L.A.(first author), Rachinskii, D., & Cross, R.  ·  Journal of Physics: Conference Series

Extends hysteresis logic to economic decision-making, showing how prior states and threshold effects can make organizational and economic responses history-dependent rather than immediately reversible.

Formal
16.

A Model of Probabilistic Hysteretic Switching in Organizations

Rios, L.A.(first author), Rachinskii, D., & Cross, R.  ·  Slow-Fast Systems and Hysteresis: Theory and Applications

Develops a formal model of probabilistic switching in organizations, linking threshold dynamics and history-dependent response to persistent organizational behavior.

Formal
3.

Background

Academic Positions

  • Assistant Professor of Strategy
    Purdue University, Daniels School · 2020 to present
  • Assistant Professor of Strategy
    The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania · 2016 to 2020

Education

  • PhD, Strategic Management
    Duke University, Fuqua School of Business
  • MBA, Real Estate Development and Finance
    UNC, Kenan-Flagler Business School
  • BA, English & American Literature and Language
    Harvard University

Editorial Service

  • Editorial Board
    Strategic Management Journal
  • Editorial Board
    Organization Science
  • Editorial Board
    Journal of Organization Design
  • Ad Hoc Reviewer
    Strategic Management Journal, Management Science, Organization Science, Strategy Science, Research Policy, and others

Selected Awards & Grants

  • Best Paper, Behavioral Strategy IG, for "When Do Firms Learn by Hiring?"
    SMS Annual Conference, 2025
  • Olin Award: Research Enhancing Business Results · $25,000
    Washington University in St. Louis
  • Krannert Young Faculty Scholar Award · $5,000
    Daniels School of Business, Purdue University
  • SSHRC Grant · $96,000
    Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
  • Wharton/Mack Institute Grants (4) · $43,000
    The Wharton School