This edited volume stems from a conference held in Copenhagen that the authors ran in August of 1997. The authors, aware of the recent work in evolutionary theory and the science of chaos and complexity, challenge the sometimes deterministic flavour of this work. They are interested in uncovering the place of agency in these theories that take history so seriously. In the end, they are as interested in path creation and destruction as they are in path dependence. This book is compiled of both theoretical and empirical writing. It shows relatively well-known industries such as the automobile, biotechnology and semi-conductor industries in a new light. It also invites the reader to learn more about medical practices, wind power, lasers and synthesizers. Primarily for academicians, researchers and PhD students in fields related to technology management, this book is a research-oriented textbook and it should appeal to managers in the field of technology.
Table of Contents:
Contents: A.P. Brief, J.P. Walsh, Series Editors' Foreword. Preface. R. Garud, P. Karnøe, Path Creation as a Process of Mindful Deviation. Part I:Path Dependence and Beyond.A.P. Bassanini, G. Dosi, When and How Chance and Human Will Can Twist the Arms of Clio: An Essay on Path Dependence in a World of Irreversibilities. P.M. Hirsch, J.J. Gillespie, Unpacking Path Dependence: Differential Valuations Accorded History Across Disciplines. V.W. Ruttan, Sources of Technical Change: Induced Innovation, Evolutionary Theory, and Path Dependence. Part II:From Path Dependence to Path Creation.M. Kenney, U. von Burg, Paths and Regions: The Creation and Growth of Silicon Valley. R.N. Langlois, D.A. Savage, Standards, Modularity, and Innovation: The Case of Medical Practice. J.A.C. Baum, B.S. Silverman, Complexity, Attractors, and Path Dependence and Creation in Technological Evolution. Part III:Path Creation as Co-Evolution.J.F. Porac, J.A. Rosa, J. Spanjol, M.S. Saxon, America's Family Vehicle: Path Creation in the U.S. Minivan Market. H. Rao, J. Singh, The Construction of New Paths: Institution-Building Activity in the Early Automobile and Biotech Industries. R. Kemp, A. Rip, J. Schot, Constructing Transition Paths Through the Management of Niches. Part IV:Path Creation as Mobilization.J. Lampel, Show-and-Tell: Product Demonstrations and Path Creation of Technological Change. B. Van Looy, K. Debackere, R. Bouwen, Innovation as a Community-Spanning Process: Looking for Interaction Strategies to Handle Path Dependency. J. Mouritsen, N. Dechow, Technologies of Managing and the Mobilization of Paths. T. Pinch, Why Do You Go to a Piano Store to Buy a Synthesizer?: Path Dependence and the Social Construction of Technology.
Review :
"Individually, each chapter is informative and well worth reading....Garud and Karnoe deliver a set of papers that are each individually interesting and nicely crafted, rendering the volume as a whole both useful and provocative....the volume will make a nice addition to individual scholars' bookshelves and institutions' libraries..."
—Administrative Science Quarterly
