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19 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Why is innovation so important for firms to compete inmany industries? |
-introduce more product/service variations, better market segmentation/penetration
-improve existing products/services -improve production processes |
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What are some of the advantages of technologicalinnovation? Disadvantages? |
-Advantages: increases knowledge, makes more options available, increases GDP/standards of living
-Disadvantages: pollution, agricultural/fishing - erosion/depletion, medical - moral dilemmas, resistant strands |
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Why do you think so many innovation projectsfail to generate an economic return? |
-technical uncertainty and market uncertainty
-too many projects -overestimating potential returns -underestimating uncertainty |
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What are some of the advantagesand disadvantages of a) individuals as innovators, b) firms as innovators, c)universities as innovators, d) government institutions as innovators, e)nonprofit organizations as innovators? |
-individuals: creative ideas originate with individuals/very limited capital -firms: significant capital/reject projects with no immediate commercial return -universities: extensive knowledge/esoteric projects instead of immediate application -governments: extensive knowledge/lack complementary resources -nonprofits - external entities/may be reliant on external sources |
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Whattraits appear to make individuals most creative? Are these the same traits thatlead to successful inventions? |
-Traits: self-efficacy, tolerance for ambiguity, willingness to overcome obstacles, intrinsic motivation -evidence suggests not all inventors are innovators ("ideation" vs. "execution" people) |
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Couldfirms identify people with greater capacity for creativity or inventiveness intheir hiring procedures? |
-intrinsic motivation, intellectual abilities, knowledge, style of thinking, personality traits |
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To what degree do you think thecreativity of the firm is a function of the creativity of individuals, versusthe structure, routines, incentives, and culture of the firm? Can you give anexample of a firm that does a particularly good job at nurturing and leveragingthe creativity of its individuals?. |
-Apple - encourages rebellious and free-thinking culture - does good job of nurturing and leveraging creativity |
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Several studies indicate thatthe use of collaborative research agreements is increasing around the world.What might be some of the reasons that collaborative research is becoming moreprevalent? |
-awareness of benefits of knowledge sharing
-rapid advances in IT have reduced cost at which info can be transmitted -as pace of innovation has quickened, firms have needed to obtain resources for innovation more quickly than beforee |
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What are some reasons that established firms might resist adopting a new technology? |
-focus on improving the processes supporting current tech has decreased their ability to identify/respond to tech discontinuity -complexity of knowledge underlying new tech -degree to which firms must develop new complementary resources -firms like individuals can be innovators, early adopters, laggards |
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Are well-established firms or new entrants more likely to (a) develop and/or (b) adopt new technologies? Why?
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-new firms are most likely to gain advantage by adopting new technology |
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Think of an example of an innovation you have studied at work or school. How would you characterize it on the dimensions described at the beginning of the chapter?
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-Product vs process -Radical vs incremental -Competence enhancing vs competence destroying -Architectural vs component |
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What are some reasons that both technology improvement and technology diffusion exhibit s-shaped curves?
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-first phase: poor understanding of technology - firms are beginning to understand technology, diffusion - risk aversion
-second phase: deeper understanding of technology, higher adoption -third phase - technological limits reached / diffusion - most consumers have adopted or never will |
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Why do technologies often improve faster than customer requirements? What are the advantages and disadvantages to a firm of developing a technology beyond the current state of market needs? |
-products in higher tiers often have higher margins so firms attempt to shift the bulk of their sales into the higher tiers -consumer side - customers' ability to fully utilize performance improvements is slowed by the need to learn how to use new features and adapt their work and lifestyles |
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In what industries would you expect to see particularly short technology cycles? In what industries would you expect to see particularly long technology cycles? What factors might influence the length of technology cycles in an industry? |
-short technology cycles: software -long technology cycles: commercial aircraft manufacturing -factors: fixed costs, competition, degree of interdependency between tech and multiple stakeholders, type of knowledge underlying tech |
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What are some of the sources of increasing returns to adoption? |
self-reinforcing cycle -leads to greater knowledge accumulation -increases value of technology for the consumer -increases likelihood that developers of comp assets will focus on its tech over alternatives |
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What are some examples of industries not mentioned in the chapter that demonstrate increasing returns to adoption?
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-Qwerty keyboard - initially designed to slow typists down, because otherwise machine would jam; no more jamming, but don't want to invest -VHS over Beta - complementary goods played role in establishment of dominant design |
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What are some of the ways a firm can try to increase the overall value of its technology and its likelihood of becoming the dominant design? |
-increasing technologies standalone value
-increasing technologies network externalities by i) encouraging developers of comp assets to create products ii) advertising heavily to create perception that installed base is larger than it is iii) leveraging an incumbent technologys complementary assets and installed base to make their tech compatible with incumbent tech |
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What determines whether an industry is likely to have one or few dominant designs?
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-level of market share at which consumers get their network externality needs meed
-path dependency -success of early entrants can prevent challengers from getting foothold -sponsorship of tech by powerful firm can help tech attain controlling share of market -government intervenes to ensure tech are compatible that societal benefits are attained |
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Are dominant designs good for consumers? Competitors? Complementors? Suppliers?
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-Consumers: yes if benefits accrued by consumers through widespread adoption of a tech outweighs the cost associated with a monopoly -Competitors: no unless the technology is "open" or your firm is owner of tech that becomes dominant design -Complementors/suppliers: Reduces power as suppliers, but also reduces the market uncertainty they face/eliminates cost of trying to support multiple competing technologies |
