The Sources Of Innovation

Author : Eric Von Hippel, MIT Sloan School of Management
ISBN : 0195094220
Pages : 232
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Publication Date : 1988, reprinted September 1994

Book Excerpts:

It has long been assumed that product innovations are typically developed by product manufacturers. Because this assumption deals with the basic matter of who the innovator is, it has inevitably had a major impact on innovation related research, on firms' management of research and development, and on government innovation policy. However, it now appears that this basic assumption is often wrong.

In this book Hippel begins by presenting a series of studies showing that the sources of innovation vary greatly. In some fields, innovation users develop most innovations. In others, suppliers of innovation-related components and materials are the typical sources of innovation. In still other fields, conventional wisdom holds and product manufacturers are indeed the typical innovators. Next, Hippel explores why this variation in the functional sources of innovation occurs and how it might be predicted. Finally, Hippel proposes and test some implications of replacing a manufacturer-as-innovator assumption with a view of the innovation process as predictably distributed across users, manufacturers, suppliers, and others.

Reviews:

Amazon.com

"This book is worth anyone's time to read. It is thought-provoking and mind-opening, especially in light of the repeated confirmations of the theories put forth in the book since it was published."

"This book belongs in the library of anyone interested in innovation: scientists, engineers, economists, and business people."

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