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Technology Cycles

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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management

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Abstract

New technologies can create whole new industries. New technologies can and often do successfully disrupt and eventually overwhelm prominent firms, which have built their positions based on prior product concepts or process techniques. Technology cycles are often described as following a pre-determined or predictable trajectory. Progress is seen to involve a succession of cycles, each ending in a discontinuity as a new trajectory is established and a new cycle begins (Sahal, Patterns of technological innovation. Reading: Addison Wesley; Dosi. 1982. Research Policy 11: 147–162, 1981). Understanding technology cycles may lead to better defining opportunities, threats and potential competitive outcomes of a firm’s strategic choices (Gavetti and Levinthal, Management Science 50: 1309–1318, 2004). The most popular ideas about mapping and predicting technology cycles and performance though are proving to be seriously oversimplified and misleading when subjected to searching examination. It is more vital than ever for strategists to understand the changing texture of technology, but in a richer and more nuanced way.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering Systems Division, James Madison University, 100 Main Street, Building E62-467, Cambridge, MA, USA

    James M. Utterback

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  1. James M. Utterback
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Correspondence to James M. Utterback .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford University , Stanford, California, USA

    Mie Augier

  2. Tusher Ctr Intellectual Capital, University of California Tusher Ctr Intellectual Capital, Berkeley, California, USA

    David J. Teece

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Utterback, J.M. (2016). Technology Cycles. In: Augier, M., Teece, D. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94848-2_400-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94848-2_400-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-94848-2

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