IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v5y1973i6p735-749.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Best-Practice Technology, Technical Leadership, and Regional Economic Development

Author

Listed:
  • R B Le Heron

    (Growth Poles and Regional Development Research Group, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA)

Abstract

One general response by firms to competitive pressures in technologically dynamic economies is the search within an industry and/or its linked industries for alternative or improved best-practice techniques. The extent of the search for new techniques and subsequent patterns of adoption and adaption are dependent on differential and changing intra- and inter-industry innovative activities. Some plants and firms are more successful at incorporating best-practice technology, achieve higher levels of productivity performance, and attain the status of best-practice enterprises. These enterprises may also assume the role of technical leaders and foster further changes and improvements in the technology of the industry. This article examines first the origins of best-practice technology in an industry, and the nature and evolutionary patterns of technical leadership. This is followed by a consideration of the regional growth impacts and development implications of different evolutionary conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • R B Le Heron, 1973. "Best-Practice Technology, Technical Leadership, and Regional Economic Development," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 5(6), pages 735-749, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:5:y:1973:i:6:p:735-749
    DOI: 10.1068/a050735
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a050735
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a050735?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Samuel Hollander, 1965. "The Sources of Increased Efficiency: A Study of DuPont Rayon Plants," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026258235x, April.
    2. J. Langrish & M. Gibbons & W. G. Evans & F. R. Jevons, 1972. "Wealth from Knowledge," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-01054-7, December.
    3. John W. Kendrick, 1961. "Productivity Trends in the United States," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number kend61-1.
    4. Edwin Mansfield & John Rapoport & Jerome Schnee & Samuel Wagner & Michael Hamburger, 1971. "Research and Innovation in the Modern Corporation," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-01639-6, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jose-Luis Hervas-Oliver & Francisca Sempere-Ripoll & Carles Boronat-Moll, 2014. "Process innovation strategy in SMEs, organizational innovation and performance: a misleading debate?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 873-886, December.
    2. Charles R. Hulten, 1992. "Growth Accounting When Technical Change is Embodied in Capital," NBER Working Papers 3971, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Pierre J. Tremblay, 1998. "Informal Thinkering: How Is It Important?," CIRANO Working Papers 98s-13, CIRANO.
    4. Rosés, Joan R., 2008. "Proximate causes of economic growth in Spain, 1850-2000," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wp08-12, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    5. Kenneth L. Sokoloff, 1986. "Productivity Growth in Manufacturing during Early Industrialization: Evidence from the American Northeast, 1820-1860," NBER Chapters, in: Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth, pages 679-736, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Shiller, Robert J., 1982. "Consumption, asset markets and macroeconomic fluctuations," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 203-238, January.
    7. Keiichiro Kobayashi, 2006. "Payment uncertainty, the division of labor, and productivity declines in great depressions," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 9(4), pages 715-741, October.
    8. Harald Edquist & Magnus Henrekson, 2006. "Technological Breakthroughs and Productivity Growth," Research in Economic History, in: Research in Economic History, pages 1-53, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    9. Barry Bozeman & Gordon Kingsley, 2013. "Research value mapping and evaluation: theory and application," Chapters, in: Albert N. Link & Nicholas S. Vonortas (ed.), Handbook on the Theory and Practice of Program Evaluation, chapter 7, pages 166-189, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Thomas Astebro, 2003. "The Return to Independent Invention: Evidence of Unrealistic Optimism, Risk Seeking or Skewness Loving?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(484), pages 226-239, January.
    11. Hugh Rockoff, 2008. "Great Fortunes of the Gilded Age," NBER Working Papers 14555, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Baldwin, John R., 1999. "Un portrait des entrees et des sorties," Direction des études analytiques : documents de recherche 1999121f, Statistics Canada, Direction des études analytiques.
    13. Howells, John, 1995. "A socio-cognitive approach to innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 883-894, November.
    14. Figueiredo, Paulo N., 2016. "Evolution of the short-fiber technological trajectory in Brazil's pulp and paper industry: The role of firm-level innovative capability-building and indigenous institutions," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-14.
    15. Crafts, Nicholas, 2004. "Productivity Growth in the Industrial Revolution: A New Growth Accounting Perspective," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(2), pages 521-535, June.
    16. Eichengreen, Barry, 2017. "A two-handed approach to secular stagnation: Some thoughts based on 1930s experience," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 650-654.
    17. Giovanni Bonifati, 2002. "Produzione, investimenti e produttivitˆ. Rendimenti crescenti e cambiamento strutturale nellÕindustria manifatturiera americana (1960-1994)," Moneta e Credito, Economia civile, vol. 55(217), pages 19-54.
    18. Andreas Hornstein, 2004. "(Un)balanced growth," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 90(Fall), pages 25-45.
    19. Francisco Azeredo, 2014. "The equity premium: a deeper puzzle," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 347-373, August.
    20. Robert J. Barro, 2006. "Rare Disasters and Asset Markets in the Twentieth Century," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(3), pages 823-866.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:5:y:1973:i:6:p:735-749. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.