The DRUID Debates aim at stimulating civilized controversy and advance the field of industrial dynamics by clarifying and developing intellectual positions in fundamental or currently heated disputes.

The debates are structured to help identify common grounds and lines of division within the field, and  to encourage conference participants and subsequent website viewers to take sides and become persuaded by arguments presented.

Each debate confronts a motion and lasts about ninety minutes. The standard time schedule looks like this:

 

EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES

June 19, 2009, Moderator: Mark Dodgson

Motion: "Let it be resolved that this conference believes that empirical evidence on industrial dynamics favors organizational ecology"

Speaking FOR the motion: Laszlo Polos and Stanislav D. Dobrev

Speaking AGAINST the motion: Giovanni Dosi and Bart Verspagen

 

PREDICTION

June 17, 2009, Moderator: David Gann

Motion: "Let it be resolved that this conference believes that the notion of prediction has high value as a criterion for research in social sciences"

Speaking FOR the motion: Will Mitchell and Anne Marie Knott

Speaking AGAINST the motion: Geoffrey M. Hodgson and Paul Nightingale

 

THE SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF GAME THEORY

 June 20, 2008, Chair: Thorbjørn Knudsen

 Motion: "Let it be resolved that this conference believes that sophisticated analyses based on game theory have made no significant contribution to the understanding of real quesions of business strategy"

Speaking FOR the motion: Sidney G. Winter and Dan Levinthal

Speaking AGAINST the motion: Bruno Cassiman and Peter Zemsky

 

NETWORKS

 June 19, 2008, Chair: Olav Sorenson

 Motion: "Let it be resolved that this conference believes that network dynamcis are an essential variable in any explanation of innovation"

Speaking FOR the motion: Walter W. Powell and Jason Owen-Smith

Speaking AGAINST the motion: Francesco Lissoni and Elaine Romanelli

 

PATENTS

 June 18, 2008, Chair: Anita McGahan

 Motion: "Let it be resolved that this conference believes that in order to improve the quality and impact of empirical research on industry dynamics we should descourage the use of patent data measure innovation."

Speaking FOR the motion: Maryann Feldman and Myriam Mariani

Speaking AGAINST the motion: Joanne Oxley and Bronwyn Hall

 

 METHODOLOGICAL INDIVIDUALISM versus SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS
 

June 19, 2007, Chair: Keld Laursen

Motion: "Let it be resolved that this conference believes that the lack of methodological individualism applied in strategy research seriously limits scientific progress in the field."

Speaking FOR the motion: Peter Abel and Nicolai Foss

Speaking AGAINST the motion: Sidney G. Winter and Thorbjørn Knudsen

 

DYNAMICS CAPABILITES and ADAPTATION

June 20, 2007, Chair: Peter Maskell

Motion: "Let it be resolved that this conferences believes that the study of dynamic capabilities leads to a dead end. Rather, to further our understanding of firm performance we need to study organizational adaptation rather than dynamic capabilities".

Speaking FOR the motion: Dan Levinthal and William C. Ocasio

Speaking AGAINST the motion: Gautam Ahuja and Kathleen Eisenhardt

 

USERS and INNOVATION 

June 20, 2006, Moderator: Ammon Salter

Motion: "Let it be resolved that this conference believes that users are the primary source of innovations in the economy and therefore the central role of business firms is to enable and harness these users' innovations rather than trying to innovate for them"

Speaking FOR the motion: Dietmar Harhoff and Lars Bo Jeppesen

Speaking AGAINST the motion: Deborah Dougherty and Gautam Ahuja

 

SOCIAL NETWORKS

June 19, 2006. Moderator: Virginia Acha

Motion: "Let it be resolved that this conference believes that social networks play a crucial role in facilitating regional economic development and the emergence and persistence of industrial clusters"

Speaking FOR the motion: Olav Sorenson and Jesper B. Sørensen

Speaking AGAINST the motion: Alfonso Gambardella and Scott Stern

 

FIRM STRATEGY OR INDUSTRY AFFILIATION?

June 29, 2005. Moderator: Keld Laursen    

Motion: "Let it be resolved that this conference believes that industry structure is a central determinant of firm performance and that the scope for firm strategy is limited accordingly"

Speaking FOR the motion: Anita McGahan and Janet Bercovitz

Speaking AGAINST the motion: Alfonso Gambardella and Sidney Winter

 

OFFSHORING INTELLECTUAL LABOUR

June 28, 2005  Moderator: Peter Maskell

Motion: "Let it be resolved that this conference believes that offshoring intellectual labour is the first stage in the true globalisation of innovation and the end to the knowledge-based comparative advantage of currently developed countries"

Speaking FOR  the motion: Daniele Archibugi and Suma S. Athreye

Speaking AGAINST the motion: Michael Storper and Meric Gertler

 

OPEN INNOVATION 

June 27, 2005 Moderator: Jens Frøslev Christensen

Motion: "Let it be resolved that this conference believes that Open Innovation is a broadly expanding new paradigm in managing innovation implying that the scope for tight appropriability regimes and core competencies is decreasing"

Speaking FOR the motion: Henry Chesbrough and Richard N. Langlois

Speaking AGAINST the motion: Constance Helfat and Ammon Salter