Innovation & Entreprenurship

Question 1

What is an technology trajectory?

Answer 1

The path a technology takes through its life time. This path may refer to its rate of performance improvement, its rate or diffusion or other change of interest

Question 2

What kinds of innovation types are there?

Answer 2

Product and process innovation
Radical and Incremental Innovation
Competence enhancing or destroying innovation
Component and Architectural innovation

Question 3

What is a radical Innovation?

Answer 3

An innovation that is very new and different from prior solutions. Radicalness might be conceived as the combination of newness and the degree of differentness

Question 4

What is an incremental innovation?

Answer 4

An innovation that makes a relatively minor change from (or adjustment to) existing practises.

Question 5

What is a competence enhancing or destroying innovation?

Answer 5

An innovation can be considered to be competence enhancing from the perspective of a particular firm if it builds on the firms existing knowledge base. A innovation that builds on existing knowledge and skills. Whether an innovation is enhancing or competence destroying depends on whose perspective is being taken. An innovation can be competence enhancing to one firm, while competence destroying to another.

Question 6

What is a component innovation?

Answer 6

An innovation to one or more components that does not significantly affect the overall configuration of the system. Eg. if a bicycle seat is changed, it does not affect or require changes to the rest of the bicycle system.

Question 7

What is a process innovation?

Answer 7

A way that an organisation conducts its business, such as in the techniques of producing or marketing goods or services.

Question 8

What is an architectural innovation?

Answer 8

An innovation that changes the overall design of a system or the way its components interact with each other. Eg. change the overall design of a bike that changes the technical function of a bike.

Question 9

What is an architectural innovation?

Answer 9

An innovation that changes the overall design of a system or the way its components interact with each other. Eg. change the overall design of a bike that changes the technical function of a bike.

Question 10

What does an S-curve show?

Answer 10

when a technology’s performance is plotted against the amount of effort and money invested in the technology, it typically shows slow initial improvement then accelerated improvement, then diminishing improvement. Its divided into three stages: initial, accelerated and diminished improvement

Question 11

What is a discontinuous technology?

Answer 11

A technology that fulfills a similar market need by building on an entirely new knowledge base.

Question 12

What kinds of S-curves are there?

Answer 12

S-curves in technological improvement and S-curves in technology diffusion

Question 13

What is a technology diffusion?

Answer 13

The spread of a technology through a population

Question 14

In what way can a S-curve be used as a tool?

Answer 14

As a tool for predicting when a technology will reach its limits and as a prescriptive guide for whether and when the firm should move to a new more radical technology.

Question 15

Which adopter categories are usually used in a S-curve when explaining new innovation?

Answer 15

• Innovators
• Early Adopters
• Early Majority
• Late Majority
• Laggards

Question 16

Describe the innovator from the adopter category

Answer 16

Are the first 2.5% of individuals to adopt an innovation. They are adventurous, comfortable with a high degree of complexity and uncertainty, and typically have access to substantial financial resources.

Question 17

Describe the early adopter from the adopter category

Answer 17

Are the next 13.5% to adopt the innovation. They are well integrated into their social systems and have great potential for opinion leadership. Other potential adopters look to early adopters for information and advice, thus early adopters make excellent “missionaries” for the new products or processes.

Question 18

Describe the early majority from the adopter category

Answer 18

Are the next 34 %. They adopt innovations slightly before the average member of a social system. They are typically not opinion leaders, but they interact frequently with their peers.

Question 19

Describe the late majority from the adopter category

Answer 19

Are the next 34 %. They approach innovation with skeptical air, and may not adopt the innovation until they feel pressure from the peers. They may have scarce resources

Question 20

Describe the laggards from the adopter category

Answer 20

Are the last 16%. They base their decisions primarily on past experience and possess almost no opinion leadership. They are highly skeptical of innovation and innovators, and must feel certain that a new innovation will not fail prior to adopting it.

Question 21

What is a dominant design?

Answer 21

A product design that is adopted by the majority of producers, typically creating a stable architecture on which the industry can focus its efforts.

Question 22

What is effectual logic?

Answer 22

• The focus on using a set of evolving means to achieve new and different goals.
• Effectuation evokes creative and transformative tactics. Effectual logic is the name given to heuristics used by expert entrepreneurs in new venture creation.

Question 23

What is causal logic?

Answer 23

• The focus on achieving a desired goal through a specific set of given means
• Causation invokes search and select tactics and underlies most good management theories.