Basic Propositions - Technological Innovation Process in the Firm - Mariano Nieto

Basic propositions for the study of the technological innovation process in the firm
Mariano Nieto
European Journal of Innovation Management
Volume 7 · Number 4 · 2004 · pp. 314-324

The innovation process in the firm could be defined as follows:

P1. Technological innovation in companies is a learning process through which a flow of

new knowledge competencies and capabilities is generated

Technology at the company level can be defined as follows:

P2. Technology is the output and the principal input of the innovation process and reflects

the volume of knowledge, competencies and capabilities that the company possesses at a

given moment in time.

The following proposition can be established regarding the

nature of the technological innovation process:

P1a. The technological innovation process is essentially continuous in nature.

P1b. The technological innovation process is path-dependent.

P1c. The technological innovation process is partially irreversible.

P1d. The technological innovation process is affected by different types of uncertainty.

P2a. All technology is made up of two types of knowledge, codified (information) and tacit.

P2b. The transmission of technologies is imperfect due to multiple factors such as

certain characteristics of knowledge, the existence of causal ambiguity or transaction

costs.

P2c. The assimilation of a new technology is not instant and depends on the level of

technological knowledge previously accumulated by the company, that is to say,

its absorption capacity.

P2d. The profits generated by a technology are not perfectly appropriable, but rather

depend of the effectiveness of the protection mechanisms used by the firms.