Technological Expectations And The Diffusion Of 'Intermediate' Technologies

The concept of 'technological expectations' has established itself as a key one in the smdy of innovation adoption. The article suggests that it may help explaining not just the adopters' timing decisions, but also their decisions regarding the kind of innovation they adopt. Innova tions that set the technological frontier face the competitive diffusion of some 'intemdiate' technologies. These may be either old technologies or 'midrange' ones. which purposefully lag behind the frontier, in order to impose lower adoption costs to their users. Taking into account midrange innovations casts new light on the supply side of the diffu sion process. in terms of technological variety and selection effects. Drawing examples from the electronic colour pre-press industry, we highlight the equipment suppliers' anxious quest for the successful midrange innovation, able to hit the right txade-off between proximity to the frontier and adoption costs.