University:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Course:
15.501/516 | Accounting
Academic year:

2023
Views:

306

Pages:

9
Author:

Aaron Villarreal

Managing the Innovation Process Origin of the Process Overview • Take-Away • Required Readings • Supplemental Readings • Caveats 2 Take-Away • Innovations are not created equal • Innovations are often modified rather than original • Innovations have costs for productivity…but also drive economic growth • Innovations are driven by leaders (and their firms) 3 (Christensen, 1997) • “The innovator's dilemma - Chapter 1: How can great firms fail? Insights from the hard disk drive industry” • Innovator’s Dilemma (keeping close to customers – sometimes to the fatal end) • Sustaining vs Disruptive Technologies (increased rate vs redefined performance trajectory) • Established vs Entrant Firms (founded before vs after advent of the technology) 4 (Morison, 1966) • “Gunfire at sea: A case study of innovation” • Continuous-Aim Firing (keep sight and gun barrel on target throughout ship roll) • Basic Invention vs Combined Elements (gun, elevating gear, and telescope were combined) • Scott -> Sims -> Teddy Roosevelt (personality / status / determination + innovation = adoption) 5 (Hounshell, 1984) • “From the American system to mass production, 18001932 - Introduction” • Mass Production (assembly line manufacturing techniques) • Examples (Henry Ford’s Model T, Eli Whitney’s cotton gin) • Productivity Dilemma (increase product changes = decrease productivity) 6 (Mowery & Rosenberg, 1998) • “Paths of innovation: Technological change in 20th century America - Introduction” • Alfred North Whitehead (“The greatest invention of the 19th century was the invention of the method of invention”) • Institutionalization of Scientific Method (R&D) (incremental learning, modification, and refinement) • Economic Growth (a consequence of technological change…) 7 (Tedlow, 2001) • “Giants of enterprise: seven business innovators and the empires they built - Introduction: The big picture” • Founding and Building New Businesses (Americans do best???) • Innovators (Carnegie, Eastman, Ford, Watson, Revson, Walton, Noyce) • Innovators vs Innovating Companies (business leaders who become inseparable from their firms) 8 Caveats • How often do disruptive technologies come along? • How often do innovators have access to President? • What about small firms with little R&D budget? • What about all of the businesses leaders that fail? 9