Inventing the transistor at Bell Labs: Creating an expertise in an unknown domain
Lenfle, Sylvain
Inventing the transistor at Bell Labs: Creating an expertise in an unknown domain - 2020.
48
This article is an empirical and theoretical contribution to the problem of expertise creation, in its relation to organization and innovation within a large company. It focuses on a famous case study: the invention of the transistor at AT&T’s Bell Labs between 1936 and 1950. A re-exploration of this history, using retrospectively C/K theory to follow the transistor design process as closely as possible, allows us to analyze the process of developing new expertise. In the mid-1930 s, the Bell Labs launched a fundamental research program on semiconductor physics as a prerequisite for the design of new electronic devices. The unknowns at stake were the considerable theoretical and technological gaps that need to be filled by building up completely new knowledge and know-how. The program, which was accelerated by the technical and organizational breakthroughs of the Second World War, would lead to the invention of several transistor prototypes in 1947-1948 and an unprecedented expansion of semiconductor technologies, based on the expertise that was built up. The analysis thus sheds light on the interdependence between corporate strategy, innovation and the creation of expertise, while at the same time fueling recent reflections on the ways in which expertise is developed in an unknown domain.
Inventing the transistor at Bell Labs: Creating an expertise in an unknown domain - 2020.
48
This article is an empirical and theoretical contribution to the problem of expertise creation, in its relation to organization and innovation within a large company. It focuses on a famous case study: the invention of the transistor at AT&T’s Bell Labs between 1936 and 1950. A re-exploration of this history, using retrospectively C/K theory to follow the transistor design process as closely as possible, allows us to analyze the process of developing new expertise. In the mid-1930 s, the Bell Labs launched a fundamental research program on semiconductor physics as a prerequisite for the design of new electronic devices. The unknowns at stake were the considerable theoretical and technological gaps that need to be filled by building up completely new knowledge and know-how. The program, which was accelerated by the technical and organizational breakthroughs of the Second World War, would lead to the invention of several transistor prototypes in 1947-1948 and an unprecedented expansion of semiconductor technologies, based on the expertise that was built up. The analysis thus sheds light on the interdependence between corporate strategy, innovation and the creation of expertise, while at the same time fueling recent reflections on the ways in which expertise is developed in an unknown domain.
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