IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/mpifgd/082.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The transformative capacity of new technologies. How innovations affect sectoral change: Conceptual considerations

Author

Listed:
  • Dolata, Ulrich

Abstract

Following up on recent debates about sectoral systems of innovation and production, the paper introduces a heuristic framework for analyzing and explaining distinct patterns of technology-based sectoral change. The concept is based on two interrelated influencing factors. The first is the sectoral-specific transformative capacity of new technologies themselves, that is, their substantial or incremental impact on socioeconomic and institutional change in a given sectoral system. The second is the sectoral adaptability of socioeconomic structures, institutions, and actors confronted with the opportunities presented by new technologies. The first factor the sectoral transformative capacity of new technologies enables us to identify the technology-driven pressure to change and adjust the structural and institutional architectures of the sectoral system. The second, complementary factor sectoral adaptability helps us to discern the distinct social patterns of anticipating and absorbing this technology-based pressure. The specific interplay between the two influencing factors creates distinguishable modes of sectoral transformation, ranging from anticipative and smooth adjustments to reactive and crisis-ridden patterns of change. Even processes of radical sectoral change continue over longer periods of mismatch, characterized by a cumulation of numerous and mostly gradual organizational, structural, and institutional transformations.

Suggested Citation

  • Dolata, Ulrich, 2008. "The transformative capacity of new technologies. How innovations affect sectoral change: Conceptual considerations," MPIfG Discussion Paper 08/2, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:082
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/36507/1/572159633.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David, Paul A, 1985. "Clio and the Economics of QWERTY," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 332-337, May.
    2. Lynn, Leonard H. & Mohan Reddy, N. & Aram, John D., 1996. "Linking technology and institutions: the innovation community framework," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 91-106, January.
    3. Peter Tschmuck, 2006. "Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-1-4020-4275-1, February.
    4. Mowery,David C. & Nelson,Richard R. (ed.), 1999. "Sources of Industrial Leadership," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521645201, October.
    5. Brent Goldfarb, 2005. "Diffusion of general-purpose technologies: understanding patterns in the electrification of US Manufacturing 1880--1930," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 14(5), pages 745-773, October.
    6. Langlois, Richard N. & Robertson, Paul L., 1992. "Networks and innovation in a modular system: Lessons from the microcomputer and stereo component industries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 297-313, August.
    7. Geels, Frank W., 2004. "From sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems: Insights about dynamics and change from sociology and institutional theory," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6-7), pages 897-920, September.
    8. Shane Greenstein & Jeff Prince, 2006. "The Diffusion of the Internet and the Geography of the Digital Divide in the United States," NBER Working Papers 12182, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Carlota Perez, 2002. "Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2640.
    10. Marie-Laure Salles-Djelic & Sigrid Quack, 2007. "Overcoming path dependency: path generation in open systems," Post-Print hal-01891993, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marek Jemala & Ľubomír Jemala, 2015. "How Are Technologies Patented in Developed and Developing Countries of EU? [Ako sú technológie patentované v rozvinutých a rozvíjajúcich sa krajinách európskej únie?]," Acta Oeconomica Pragensia, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2015(1), pages 27-44.

    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. Dolata, Ulrich, 2009. "Technological innovations and sectoral change: Transformative capacity, adaptability, patterns of change: An analytical framework," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 1066-1076, July.
    2. Dolata, Ulrich, 2007. "Technik und sektoraler Wandel: Technologische Eingriffstiefe, sektorale Adaptionsfähigkeit und soziotechnische Transformationsmuster," MPIfG Discussion Paper 07/3, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    3. Dolata, Ulrich, 2011. "Radical change as gradual transformation: Characteristics and variants of socio-technical transitions," Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers 2011-03, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies.
    4. Dosi, Giovanni & Nelson, Richard R., 2010. "Technical Change and Industrial Dynamics as Evolutionary Processes," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 51-127, Elsevier.
    5. Safarzyńska, Karolina & Frenken, Koen & van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2012. "Evolutionary theorizing and modeling of sustainability transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 1011-1024.
    6. 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.
    7. Künneke, Rolf & Groenewegen, John & Ménard, Claude, 2010. "Aligning modes of organization with technology: Critical transactions in the reform of infrastructures," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 494-505, September.
    8. Markard, Jochen & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2016. "Analysis of complementarities: Framework and examples from the energy transition," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 63-75.
    9. Frenken, Koen, 2006. "A fitness landscape approach to technological complexity, modularity, and vertical disintegration," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 288-305, September.
    10. Hameeda A. AlMalki & Christopher M. Durugbo, 2023. "Systematic review of institutional innovation literature: towards a multi-level management model," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(2), pages 731-785, June.
    11. Valery Michaux, 2022. "Transformations in the automotive sector: complex change, deeper reconfiguration or dangerous disruption? [Les six mutations du secteur automobile : simple transformation, reconfiguration plus prof," Post-Print hal-03736166, HAL.
    12. Lynn K. Mytelka, 2006. "Divides and rules: the impact of new wave technologies on learning and innovation in the South," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(6), pages 861-876.
    13. Rodrigues, Lúcia Lima & Craig, Russell, 2018. "The role of government accounting and taxation in the institutionalization of slavery in Brazil," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 21-38.
    14. Joan Crespo, 2021. "Agencies, scales and times of path creation: The case of IoT in Toulouse," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(5), pages 1527-1545, October.
    15. Thomas Rixen & Lora Anne Viola, 2015. "Putting path dependence in its place: toward a Taxonomy of institutional change," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 27(2), pages 301-323, April.
    16. Rebekah Brown & Richard Ashley & Megan Farrelly, 2011. "Political and Professional Agency Entrapment: An Agenda for Urban Water Research," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(15), pages 4037-4050, December.
    17. Planko & Jacqueline Cramer & Maryse Chappin & Marko Hekkert, 2014. "Strategic collective system building by firms who launch sustainability innovations," Innovation Studies Utrecht (ISU) working paper series 14-04, Utrecht University, Department of Innovation Studies, revised Sep 2014.
    18. Francesco Lamperti & Giovanni Dosi & Mauro Napoletano & Andrea Roventini & Alessandro Sapio, 2018. "And then he wasn't a she : Climate change and green transitions in an agent-based integrated assessment model," Working Papers hal-03443464, HAL.
    19. Lamperti, F. & Dosi, G. & Napoletano, M. & Roventini, A. & Sapio, A., 2020. "Climate change and green transitions in an agent-based integrated assessment model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    20. Foxon, Timothy J., 2011. "A coevolutionary framework for analysing a transition to a sustainable low carbon economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2258-2267.

    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:zbw:mpifgd:082. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mpigfde.html .

    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.