Stuart Peters

Technological Entrepreneurship and Firm Strategy: The Development and Commercialization of the Ballard Fuel Cell

An entrepreneurial strategy has been identified as playing a key role in radical innovation due to the risk-taking nature of the entrepreneurial firm. However, less attention has been paid to the factors that are critical to the success of such innovations by small firms in which these occur. The Schumpeterian idea of visionary individuals who can both operate in the world of advanced engineering and take on a business role as part of a global industry still appears to be essential. This article focuses on the fate of one such individual, Geoffrey Ballard, who has played a pioneering role in developing and commercializing fuel cells for vehicle propulsion.

Sustainable development, global innovation and advanced technologies: the case of fuel cells

This paper examines the innovation requirements of the sustainable development thesis. Focusing on the related concept of ecological modernisation, a critique is presented, which suggests that a more informed analysis of technological innovation must be taken into account in discussions about the future direction of industrial society. Proponents of ecological modernisation suggest that reform of existing institutions and policy processes together with introduction of new, clean technologies can solve the environmental crisis while leaving existing social structures intact. It is argued here that this thesis does not adequately take into account innovation processes involved in the emergence of radical technologies. A case study of fuel cell development is presented to illustrate the complex nature of such technologies, the time necessary to reach the point of commercialisation, and the continued dependence on the creativity and ingenuity of the scientific and engineering community.

Nanotechnology innovation for future development in the textile industry

Abstract: This chapter discusses the process of ‘de-maturity’ of the European textile industry, moving away from its traditional roots in an attempt to revive the fortunes of this mature industry, through the adoption of novel technologies, such as nanotechnology, microelectronics and/or biotechnology. The process requires a paradigm shift involving every aspect of the firm that includes its technical capabilities, research and development (R&D) and business strategy. In particular, this chapter discusses a new product development strategy that permits the incorporation of the novel technologies into current business activities, which is consistent with the Open Innovation paradigm. This is illustrated through a case study of Freudenberg, a German textile firm.

Semiconductors: A Truly Global Industry

This chapter analyses the development and progress of the semiconductor industries of the US, Japan, and Western Europe, up to the early 2000s. The role of public policy has been widely credited with the successful development of the US and Japanese industries, and the failure to revitalise the European one. However, the long-term survival of the respective industries is ultimately decided by national firms’ ability to keep up with changes in the direction and rate of technological change, how they manage to exploit present and emerging opportunities, and their ability to withstand the frequent and wild fluctuations in supply and demand.

Liquid Crystal Displays as an Emerging Sectoral System of Innovation

The first section examines the historical background of the LCD. In Chapter 2, the notion of path dependency was explained at some length. The assertion made was that to analyse any ‘unusual outcome’ with this approach, it was imperative to find out where the path begins. For understanding the complexities of the development of the LCD industry, the path begins here. It was the pioneering work of two US firms, as stated in Chapter 1, which paved the way for the commercial exploitation of liquid crystals, and gave the US its lead in this technology. The second section focuses on why these highly innovative firms subsequently allowed LCD technology to slip through their fingers, and gave away the country’s lead to Japan.

‘Merging Together’: The Semiconductor and Liquid Crystal Display Industries

The explosion of the ‘information age’ in the 1990s has transformed many consumer markets and areas of the business environment way beyond anything which would have been considered remotely possible in the previous decade. It requires no further elaboration here to emphasise how far-reaching this technological revolution has been. From its very humble origins in the 1970s with simple computer generated credit-card statements and household bills, the diffusion of automated teller machines (ATMs) (Davis & McCormack, 1979),1 to the widespread adoption of the facsimile (FAX) machine in the 1980s, the information age has undergone a period of phenomenal growth and change. It has been driven by four main factors; the emergence of the World Wide Web, the spread of high-speed Internet access, the rapid progress in personal computing technology, and the development of the digital infrastructure.2 These major developments have had a profound effect in a number of different ways. Huge amounts of data blending text, sound and images can now be transmitted at lightning speed and efficiency and once distinct industry boundaries have become blurred.

National Systems of Innovation and Path Dependency

It was in the late 1980s when the systems of innovation concept first came to major prominence. When Christopher Freeman’s (1987) book on innovation in Japan was published,1 where the concept in its original formulation made its initial appearance as the national system of innovation (NSI), no one could have predicted the effect which it would have. The main effect Freeman had was to help create an entirely new field of research and spark off a wave of research into the concept. Within six years two major books had appeared on the subject, National Systems of Innovation: Towards a Theory of Innovation and Interactive Learning (1992) edited by Bengt-Ake Lundvall, and National Innovation Systems: A Comparative Analysis (1993) edited by Richard Nelson. Since then, the systems of innovation concept has continued to attract a considerable degree of interest for two fundamental reasons; it has proved highly robust and adaptable; and in an era of globalisation it has generated important insights across a variety of different contexts within the process of innovation (Michie, 2003).2

Corporate Strategy and Firm Learning

Corporate strategy is a complex subject with many different facets. Put differently, it is a field where consensus is rare and disagreements widespread. In the first chapter of his book, What is Strategy — And Does it Matter?, Whittington (2001) shines the spotlight on the core problem and how it goes to the very heart of the subject: There is not much agreement about strategy. The Economist (1993:106) observes: ‘the consultants and theorists jostling to advise businesses cannot even agree on the most basic of all questions: what precisely, is a corporate strategy’. Strategy guru Michael Porter (1996) asks the question ‘What is Strategy?’ in the very title of an important Harvard Business Review article. In a recent textbook, Markides (2000:vii) admits: ‘We simply do not know what a good strategy is or how to develop a good one’.1