Evolutionary trajectories in petroleum firm R&D

Tacit knowledge and cumulative learning underlie an evolutionary theory of business firm development and strategy. As one test case of the theory, this study examines firms’ applied research and development activities. Evolutionary theory suggests that firms within an industry will tend both to persist and to differ in the amount of effort they devote to various R&D applications. A test of the hypothesis of persistent differences in R&D, using uniquely detailed data from the petroleum industry, provides support for evolutionary theory.