《《A Dynamic Model of Process and product innovation》.pdf

OMEGA, The Int. J1 of Mgmt Sci., VoI. 3, No. 6, 1975. Pergamon Press. Printed in Great Britain A Dynamic Model of Process and Product Innovation JAMES M UTTERBACK Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Policy Alternatives WILLIAM J ABERNATHY Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration (Received December 1974; in revisedform 3,lay 1975) This article reports results from empirical tests of relationships between the pattern of innovation within a firm and certain of the firms characteristics: the stage of development of its production process and its chosen basis of competition. The hypothesized relationships posed for the present investigation are a synthesis of prior research by the present authors on two distinct but complementary conceptual models of innovation, concerning respectively: the relationship between competitive strategy and innovation, and the relationship between production process character- istics and innovation. The empirical investigation is carried out with data available from the Myers and Marquis study of successful technological innovation in five different industry segments. The essential aspects of the hypothesized relationships are that the characteristics of the innovative process will systematically correspond with the stage of develop- ment exhibited by the firms production process technology and with its strategy for competition and growth. As a more specific example these relationships predict that there will be coherent patterns in the stimuli for innovation (market, production or new tec