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The Economics of Persistent Innovation presents papers that provide definitions of persistence in firm innovative behavior, establish the significance of persistence, present a theory of persistence, and examine empirical evidence regarding both the extent of, and the determinants of, persistence. They survey previous studies which have commented on persistence and present new data describing trends in the persistence in innovation. The book discusses the main determinants of persistence and the reasons for its systematic heterogeneity across industries, technologies and countries.
The book first focuses on the determinants of persistence in innovation. This topic is analyzed in several ways, including a Markovian model of innovation. The characteristics of persistent inventors as revealed in patent data are explored for many industrial countries. An evolutionary theory of persistence in innovation is proposed. In conclusion we draw some policy implications for support and development of innovation.
List of contents
The meaning and significance of persistence in innovation.- The determinants of persistence in innovation: Results from a study of French patenting.- The continuity of innovative behaviour: A Markovian model of innovation.- The characteristics of persistent inventors as revealed in patent data.- Comparing innovative persistence across countries: A Cox-model of patenting in the UK and France.- Persistent adoption of innovations: The case of point-of-sale retail scanners.- Towards an evolutionary theory of persistence in innovation.
Summary
William Latham Christian Le Bas Persistence of firm innovative behavior became an important topic in applied industrial organization with the publication of the seminal empirical work of P. Geroski and his colleagues (1997). Evidence that firms innovate persistently has led previous studies to focus on the determinants of innovation persistence and on its heterogeneity across industries, technologies and countries. The aims of this book are: (1) to illumine the scale and scope of the phenomenon of persistence in innovation, and (2) to account for the principal factors that explain why some firms innovates persistently and others do not. Because this book deals intensively and extensively with the subject of firm innovation persistence, which is not, as yet, a well-known term, we need to provide a nontrivial definition of it that encompasses the full range topics we want to address and aids our understanding of how they are related to each other. We begin with a careful identification of "innovation. " Our first definition is drawn from K. Pavitt (2003), "innovation processes involve the exploration and exploitation of opportunities for a new or improved product, process or service, based either on an advance in technical practice or a change in market demand, or a combination of the two. " While this definition is clear, and conforms well to both our empirical and theoretical perspectives, some elaboration may help to clarify the concept.
