In Abbott’s (1884) allegorical tale a stranger from “Spaceland” (A world that recognize three dimensions) attempts to convince an inhabitant of “Flatland” (A world that only recognize two dimensions) of the existence of a third dimension that he refers to as height. Discovering that it is impossible to discuss meaningfully the existence of the third dimension using the Flatland’s language and metrics (which, of course, have no spatial constructs that extend beyond length and width), the Spacelander’s only way to convince the Flatlander of the validity of the third dimension is to demonstrate its existence by lifting “up”. Upon viewing Flatland from this raised position, in which he could observe both the two dimensions on the plane, as well as witness the new perspective of these by the “raised” position, the Flatlander becomes convinced of the existence and potential offered by the new dimension (Adner & Levinthal, 2008).
創新(innovation)來自於創意(creativity)。創意指的是新的想法，這個想法多半和原有的想法或是作法有差異(deviation)。但差異不見得是好事，事實上大部分的創意都以失敗作結，只有少部分的創意可以變成創新(March, 2006)。創新在此指的是一個新想法在商品或是服務上的具體化，且該具體化能得到顯著的經濟報償。創意要能成為創新的關鍵在於創意發想者如何向其他人說明他所提出的「差異」是有道理的。創意發展成創新的過程可以被視為一個創意發想者和現有體制溝通、談判、和正當化的過程(A. B. Hargadon & Y. Douglas, 2001)。於是創意發想者說服其他人其創意價值的能力，在創意是否能成為創新的過程中扮演了重要的角色：有潛力的創意可能因為溝通不良而失敗，而不是創意本身不具備成為有意義的創新的潛力。
但Hargadon & Sutton (1997)及Hargadon & Douglas (2001)的討論將創意侷限在局部的創意(creativity in local)。局部的創意強調的是模仿(imitation)和重新組合(recombination)：將已有的創意及創新加以整理並推出一個差異程度有限的創意。這個有限度的創意成為創新的可能較大，因為大多數人已經對這個有限度創意中所包含的概念及語言有相當程度認識。
和局部創意相對的是全然的創新(creativity in global)。全然創新強調想像力(imagination)和親身接觸(direct experience)。但親身接觸往往較想像力更重要。就像Abbott Flatlander的寓言中所述，你要怎麼說服一個flatlander「高度」的存在？帶他去體驗是最好的方法！”Feeling is believing.” 不幸的是，願意體驗新事物的人往往是少數。Abbott寓言的結尾是體驗過三度空間的flatlander興沖沖的回到Flatland試圖向他的同胞們說明真的存在，由於缺少任何可以描述三度空間的語言，這個可憐的flatlander被他的同胞以精神失常為由判決終身監禁。這個寓言說明了在創意與創新研究中，我們迫切需要研究的或許是能夠傳達想像力的語言 – 一個能夠說明和現有事物有質性差異的想法的溝通能力。
Abbott, E. (1884). Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. London: Seely & Co.
Adner, R., & Levinthal, D. A. (2008). Doing verse seeing: Acts of exploitation and observations of exploration. Strategic Management Journal, 2, 43-52.
Hargadon, A., & Douglas, Y. (2001). When Innovations Meet Institutions: Edison and the Design of the Electric Light. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(3), 476-501.
Hargadon, A., & Sutton, R. I. (1997). Technology Brokering and Innovation in a Product Development Firm. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42(4), 716-749.
Hargadon, A. B., & Douglas, Y. (2001). When Innovations Meet Institutions: Edison and the Design of the Electric Light. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(3), 476-501.
March, J. G. (2006). Rationality, foolishness, and adaptive intelligence. Strategic Management Journal, 27(3), 201-214.
劉正威
Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
2008年是我第三次參加AoM(Academy of Management Annual Meeting)。對我這個第二年博士生來說，AoM是一個免費暢飲美酒、和知名學者們對話、和盡情玩耍研究創意的地方。這三點不是我首先提出的，我最近讀到James G. March在他的一篇文章中鼓吹這三點(the important roles of wine, flirtation, and play in academic conferences, 2004: 13)。這篇文章就來談談我在這場觥籌交錯之旅的反思。不過首先從PhD學生為什麼要參加學術會議說起。
Jay Barney的譬喻
Jay Barney對PhD學生進入學術界的過程有一個很好的譬喻 ：PhD學生就像一個雞尾酒會的遲到者。場子已經很熱鬧，各個小群體專注聊著他們的話題。如果你夠細心，還能發覺有一些插不上話的人默默離開原來所屬的群體。這些人如果不能適時加入另一個群體開始聊天，呆站在旁邊的他們就會被認為是酒會上的怪喀。這些怪喀多半會自願或被迫被請出酒會。
Andriani, P., & McKelvey, B. (2007). Beyond Gaussian averages: redirecting international business and management research toward extreme events and power laws. Journal of International Business Studies, 38(7), 1212-1230.
March, J. G. (2004). Parochialism in the Evolution of a Research Community - the Case of Organization Studies. Management and Organization Review, 1, 5-22.
