Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation
Utterback (management and engineering, MIT) has compiled an impressive volume, combining considerable research with case histories that chart the ebb and flow of assembled and nonassembled products through the American marketplace. Theory is used in conjunction with interesting descriptions of the history of such innovations as the typewriter, the light bulb, and plate glass to demonstrate the impact of innovation in such industries as word processing, automobiles, and super computers. Weaving together research and examples, Utterback persuasively argues that companies should not always sacrifice long-term research and development projects for the sake of immediate financial reward. He shows that overly conservative practices have often left giant companies on the outside looking in when new, radical innovations have made more traditional processes and products obsolete or irrelevant. This is an important study on the role innovation plays in manufacturing and technology. Recommended for academic and larger public library business collections.Randy Abbott, Univ. of Evansville Libs., Ind.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.