Problem formulation is central to strategic management. While exhibits high strategic value, the formulation of complex problems is relatively understudied. We combine the seminal research of technology breakthrough with the framework of problem-solving to examine how a technology breakthrough affects the formulation of complex problems. We argue that a technology breakthrough reduces the anticipated uncertainty associated with problem-solving and thus encourages the formulation of complex problems. By exploiting the unexpected victory of AlphaGo over Go grandmaster Lee Sedol and tracking the technical questions posted on Stack Overflow by developers who are interested in deep learning, we find empirical evidence that the victory of AlphaGo inspires deep learning related developers to formulate problems of higher complexity. Moreover, this positive effect is enhanced by developers’ experimentation intensity and prior search breadth.
