Running in Packs to Develop Knowledge-Intensive Technologies

The shift of technological innovations from physicaldevices to knowledge-based services is examined.Four sectors of theindustrial infrastructure (institutional arrangements, resource endowments,consumer demand, and proprietary activities) are presented to aid in theanalysis. Technological innovation is presented as being collective, embedded, andemergent with corporate competition.Given this collective view, thereappear to be significant economic motives for firms to choose to "run inpacks," especially in the highly ambiguous periods of technologicaldevelopment. Those that are involved in these periods want to maximize their own shares,but those that are successful realize that the possibility of garnering bigrewards from an orphan industry is less than from a new, larger, growingknowledge-intensive industry.By developing their distinctive competenciesand outsourcing the remaining work, firms are able to become a node in thenetwork of that industry. These collective efforts will allow knowledge-intensive technologies todevelop at a faster pace.Additionally, political savvy is considered tobe an important characteristic for those competing in an emergingindustry. Those that possess this savvy are able to effect institutionalchange and achieve the goals of their firm more easily than those that lackpolitical savvy.(SRD)