The role of executive problem solving in knowledge accumulation and manufacturing improvements
研究高管两种问题解决导向（症状解决与生成解决）对知识积累和制造改进的影响，基于美国金属铸造厂数据发现生成解决促进知识积累，症状解决则削弱内部知识。
Abstract This study investigates how strategic leaders influence knowledge stocks and manufacturing improvements in firms. In doing so, we identify two related but distinct problem‐solving orientations among senior executives. The first orientation uses short‐term remedies to control and contain the impact of a problem, which we label as symptomatic problem solving (SPS). The other orientation addresses a problem situation with the objective of developing new understanding and skills, and we label it as generative problem solving (GPS). We test our theoretical framework using two waves of survey data from a sample of metal casting manufacturers (metal foundries) in the United States. Our analysis shows that GPS positively affects both internal and external knowledge stocks, while SPS negatively influences internal knowledge stock. Knowledge stocks, in turn, facilitate incremental and radical manufacturing improvements. Our results suggest that the two executive problem‐solving orientations can potentially counteract each other in enhancing and depreciating knowledge stocks, and subsequently affect a manufacturer's ability to attain improvements both in the short and long terms