Summary Raffaeilli, R. L., Glynn, M. A., & Tushman, M. 2018. Flexing the frame: TMT framing and the adoption of non-incremental innovations by incumbent firms. Harvard Business School Organizational Behavior Unit Working Paper, 17-091

Raffaelli et al – Flexing the Frame: The role of cognitive and emotional
framing in innovation adoption by incumbent firms
Summary

 Firms have to adopt non-incremental innovations to be successful but they often don’t

 Why? This paper argues that innovation adoption depends on the degree of frame flexibility

 Frame flexibility = the capability of top management teams (TMTs) to expand an innovation’s
categorical boundaries and to cast the innovation as emotionally resonate with the
organization’s identity, capabilities, and competitive boundaries

 Argument: forces of inertia restrict how TMTs perceive innovations – frame flexibility can
overcome these perceptions


PROPOSED MODEL

 Firms have a legacy strategy
 Innovation Target probably challenges this legacy strategy

Components of the model

The TMTs cognitive frame, consisting of:

 The cognitive lens – this can be expanded or contracted depending on 3 filters
 The frame flexibility – this depends on how innovations are classified & categorized

The extended team’s emotional frame, which determines:

 Whether innovations are seen as a threat, an opportunity or as ambivalent

The result:

 Innovation Adoption or non-adoption

Development over time:

 Managerial ability to learn over time how to manage their frames in order to maintain and
improve their dynamic capability of innovation adoption

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