Branching and Anchoring: Complementary Asset Configurations in Conditions of Knightian Uncertainty

The role of complementary assets across the different stages of a firm's value chain in facilitating value creation and value appropriation from technological innovation remains a key area of interest in strategy and entrepreneurship research. However, current thinking on complementary assets operates with an unstated boundary condition—that relevant assets and asset configurations are relatively well known to the innovating firm. This assumption is applicable under conditions of "risk," wherein decision-makers can know outcomes and probabilities. It is less clear, though, how current insights apply under conditions of "Knightian uncertainty," in which neither outcomes nor probabilities are knowable. The purpose of this paper is to advance a complementary assets theory that accounts for conditions of Knightian uncertainty, thus aligning theory with the contemporary realities surrounding innovating firms. This article highlights an important intertemporal trade-off that existing literature ignores—without accounting for Knightian uncertainty, firms may unknowingly direct complementary assets in ways that favor current value appropriation at the expense of future value creation. We discuss theoretical implications for research on the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities and opportunities for future research on complementary asset configurations across geographic boundaries and across organizations in innovation ecosystems.