Journal
JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
Volume 55, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.jengtecman.2019.11.003
Keywords
Evolution of technology; Technological evolution; Co-Evolution of technologies; Nature of technology; Complex system; Modularity; Design architecture; Product architecture; Product design; Host technology; Master technology; Technological parasitism; Technological symbiosis; Mutant technologies; Technological innovation; Technological change; Technological development; Technology management; Innovation management; Product innovation management; Competitive advantage
Categories
Funding
- CNR - National Research Council of Italy [0072373-2014, 0003005-2016]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
How do technologies develop? This study proposes the theory of technological parasitism that is based on the idea that parasite-host relationships between technologies and technologies with a high number of technological parasites have an accelerated evolution driven by long-run mutualistic symbioses, providing the basis for extensive macroevolution and adaptive behavior of systems of interactive technologies in markets. This theory may be useful for bringing a new perspective to explain and generalize the evolution of technology directed to sustain competitive advantage of firms and nations. In particular, technological parasitism explains the relationship of mutualistic symbiosis between a host (or master) technology and inter-related technologies to satisfy needs and/or to solve consequential problems of socioeconomic subjects over time. To explore the potential of adopting a theory of technological parasitism and to predict which technologies are likeliest to evolve rapidly, this study implements a theoretical test based on a computational agent-based model developed from these concepts and a empirical test based on historical data on the evolution of four example technologies (aircraft, tractor, locomotive and bicycle technology). Computational and empirical evidence are broadly consistent with the theoretical expectation that host (or master) technologies with many associated parasitic technologies advance rapidly, whereas master technologies with fewer parasitic technologies improve slowly. The proposed theory has a demonstrated capacity to explain relationships between technologies in complex systems that clarify the driving forces of the evolution of technology in markets. The finding of this study could aid management of firms and innovation strategy of nations to implement best practices of product/process design and development for supporting R&D of technologies that are likely to evolve rapidly, sustaining and safeguarding competitive advantage. Overall, then, this study, for the first time to our knowledge, begins the process of clarifying and generalizing, as far as possible, the role of long-run coevolution between host and parasitic technologies in complex systems, suggesting fruitful implications for innovation management. markets. This conceptual scheme here is especially relevant in Schumpeterian markets with innovation-based competition to explain a major source of technological evolution and success, the parasite-host relationships between technologies. Finally, this theory here suggests a new direction for the development of more sophisticated concepts and theoretical frameworks to explain technological and industrial change in economic systems.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available