The materials assembled draw on all of the above disciplines, and in turn inform important issues in each of the identified fields. The authors are drawn from many different universities around the world, but nevertheless coexist and interact in an invisible college of scholars committed to understanding the foundations of firm level and national competitiveness, and ultimately the wealth of nations. All authors tacitly take for granted certain legal prerequisites, such as the existence of property rights and contract law, and a judicial system able to enforce agreements among individuals and business entities. That put to one side, the study of wealth creation through innovation becomes the study of the development of new technologies and their successful commercialization. It is aspects of this process at work in the advanced industrial economies which are the focus of this book.
Organization becomes the key.
Indeed, it is the middle word in the title of this book, flanked by technology to the left and competitiveness to the right. Absent robust and adaptable organizational systems in firms, among firms, and between firms and external institutions, the fruits of technology will become dissipated. Conversely, well designed organization structures and effective management are the handmaidens of competitive advantage, economic development, and growth.