Too Much Learning

Josiah Ober ( Democracy and Knowledge: Innovation and Learning in Classical Athens ) cites a study by organization theorist James March that shows through case studies of business firm “innovation and learning are potentially contradictory drives: social learning is valuable in that learning allows routinization and routinization increases returns to effort.  But the capacity for innovation, which is essential for success in changing competitive environments, depends on people’s socialization in established routines remaining incomplete.  In volatile environments, too much learning can compromise competitive advantage, as can too little learning when conditions are more predictable.”