The Sources of Innovation

Hippel, Eric von

ISBN 10: 0195040856 / ISBN 13: 9780195040852

Published by Oxford University Press, 1988

About this Item

Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!

Seller Inventory # S_451484885

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Sources of Innovation
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195040856
• ISBN 13: 9780195040852
• Binding: hardcover
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

It has long been assumed that new product innovations are typically developed by product manufacturers, an assumption that has inevitably had a major impact on innovation-related research and activities ranging from how firms organize their research and development to how governments measure innovation. In this synthesis of his seminal research, von Hippel challenges that basic assumption and demonstrates that innovation occurs in different places in different industries. Presenting a series of studies showing that end-users, material suppliers, and others are the typical sources of innovation in some fields, von Hippel explores why this variation in the "functional" sources of innovation occurs and how it might be predicted. He also proposes and tests some implications of replacing a manufacturer-as-innovator assumption with a view of the innovation process as predictably distributed across users, manufacturers, and suppliers. Innovation, he argues, will take place where there is greatest economic benefit to the innovator.

About the Author

Eric von Hippel is at Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.