The Management of Innovation and Technology

Citation

Mosey, S. (2006), "The Management of Innovation and Technology", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 393-394. https://doi.org/10.1108/17410380610648335

This book aims to provide a critical synthesis of the innovation literature, drawing from the fields of social science, economics and technological history. In the main, it achieves this goal by combining wide‐ranging critical discussion with in‐depth case histories to provide a greater understanding of the innovation process.

The introductory chapter presents the concept of the “technology complex,” an overarching framework that includes technical, social, economic and market perspectives. This provides the structure for the remainder of the book and introduces the thesis that the innovation process can be better understood by considering different theoretical perspectives and contingencies of application.

Chapter 2 considers the way in which technology is conceived and developed in relation to prospective applications. It concludes that the concepts of “technology push” and “market pull” are misleading and recommends the adoption of “invention” and “innovation” as more easily understood categories within the innovation process.

The following chapter takes a macro perspective of the potential impact of innovation. It considers paths of technological development and argues that anecdotal reports of “lock in” to inferior technologies are misrepresentative. It proposes that technologies are adopted when they are sufficient for contemporary needs, rather than due to technical superiority per se.

Differing economic theories regarding the relationship between innovation and competitive advantage are considered next. Historical cases such as the decline of the US car industry are compared with contemporary cases, such as the Microsoft antitrust actions. The author concludes that a contingency approach is required to explain the economic impact of innovation.

Intellectual property (IP) rights are discussed in Chapter 5, which proposes that there is no conclusive evidence that IP law restricts innovation. Nevertheless, the continuous reform of IP law is argued to be necessary for this situation to remain. Different financial models are considered in Chapter 6 and their relationship to innovation performance is evaluated.

Chapter 7 takes the analysis to a different level. The potential relationship between management practice, technical education and the adoption of technological change is examined. By making a detailed comparison between German, Japanese and UK technical training and operations management practices; it is argued that free market solutions may under perform, when compared with institutionally constrained markets. Yet free market solutions may be more appropriate where the aim is to pursue technological leadership rather than technology transfer.

A final theme considers broader policy issues, examining the impact of policy‐makers upon technological change and reviewing different political structures and their influences upon the competitive advantage of nations.

John Howells makes a valid contribution by attempting to provide a greater understanding of the innovation process. Perhaps the main strength of his book is the call for an all‐encompassing definition of technology to be utilised. It is ambitious in both scope and depth, by integrating different research traditions and methodological approaches. Such an approach may limit the effectiveness of the book as a student text. Certain sections may prove less accessible to this group, who may be unfamiliar with the underlying theoretical approaches supporting the rather complex arguments presented.

However, the book provides a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners and policy‐makers, particularly as the danger of applying simple models out of context is emphasised. In particular, it provides a good introduction to broader aspects of the field of innovation for researchers based within the engineering and science traditions.