This important book is about the origins and diffusion of innovation, in theory and in practice. The practice draws on a variety of industries, from electronics to eyewear, from furniture to mechatronics, in a range of economies including Europe, USA and China.

The past two decades have seen a gradual but noticeable change in the economic organization of innovative activity. Most firms used to integrate research and development with activities such as production, marketing, and distribution. Today firms are forming joint ventures, research and development alliances, licensing deals, and a variety of other outsourcing arrangements with universities, technology-based start-ups, and other established firms. In many industries, a division of innovative labor is emerging, with a substantial increase in the licensing of existing and prospective technologies. In short, technology and knowledge are becoming definable and tradable commodities. Although researchers have made significant advances in understanding the determinants and consequences of innovation, until recently they have paid little attention to how innovation functions as an economic process. This book examines the nature and workings of markets for intermediate technological inputs. It looks first at how industry structure, the nature of knowledge, and intellectual property rights facilitate the development of technology markets. It then examines the impacts of these markets on firm boundaries, the division of labor within the economy, industry structure, and economic growth. Finally, it examines the implications of this framework for public policy and corporate strategy. Combining theoretical perspectives from economics and management with empirical analysis, the book also draws on historical evidence and case studies to flesh out its research results.

Knowledge and Technology Adoption, Diffusion, and Transfer: International Perspectives is filled with original scientific and quality research articles on management information systems, technology diffusion, and business systems application aspects of e-commerce, e-government, and mobile application. As a forum of multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary dialogue, it addresses research on all aspects of innovation diffusion in the field of business computing technologies and their past, present, and future use. This title serves as a vital source of information for researchers and practitioners alike.

In this volume a group of distinguished scholars take up the familiar Schumpeterian theme of innovation. They cast it in a new light by emphasizing not technology and innovation in particular industries but rather innovation in institutions and organizational structures. They thus cumulatively argue that innovation promotes not only industry but the evolution of society as a whole.

Secondly, it studies the impact of strategic consumer delay on the adoption of new technology. Strategic consumer delay and strategic learning have significant impact on diffusion of new technology and on the subsequent speed of learning. The social planner and monopoly's incentives to adopt the new technology deviate as the incentive for strategic consumer delay grows stronger. The social planner may be less inclined to adopt the new technology and the monopoly may learn too fast. On oligopoly market, diffusion of new technology may be inhibited by the destructive war in accumulating production experience.