1. Programme
The blog is
aimed at a wide, general audience. I will not take specialized knowledge for
granted, avoiding technical terminology, and I will be sparse in footnotes and
references to literature.
I look at
both the competence side of innovation, in knowledge, skills, and
technology, and the governance side, in managing risks and rivalry. In
the innovation literature those two sides tend to be separated. Concerning
governance there is transaction cost economics as a branch of economics,
which is neglected in much of the management literature on innovation. However,
it neglects some of the features recognized in that literature, such as radical
uncertainty and the process nature of innovation. I also take an
evolutionary view of innovation, as developed in neo-Schumpeterian
economics.
I take an
interdisciplinary approach, employing insights from (different branches and
schools of) economics, management science, sociology (especially concerning
innovation networks), and cognitive science (concerning knowledge, learning and
invention). Economics builds on rational choice, and the radical uncertainty of
innovation yields an obstacle for treating it in those terms.
Some of the
deeper, underlying, more fundamental philosophical issues, concerning knowledge
and truth, uncertainty, individual and society, ethics, stability and change,
and creativity and art are treated in a philosophy blog (http://philosophyonthemove.blogspot.nl)
that I started in July 2012 and continue to run in parallel to the present
blog.
As in the
philosophy blog, I aim to present short pieces of text, of around 500 words,
that can be read independently, in any order. However, they do build on each
other, and I specify the connections for readers interested in them.
I start
with the customary distinction between invention, innovation and diffusion of
innovations, between different fields of innovation (products, processes,
markets, organization, institutions, ….), and different levels (incremental and
radical) of innovation. I proceed with a discussion of entrepreneurship, and
differences and complementarities between small and large firms, in
competencies, outlook, motivation and conduct. Here one of the classic sources
is the innovation economist Joseph Schumpeter.
Second, I
consider knowledge, learning and invention. There, I use an embodied
cognition view of knowledge and a pragmatist methodology (derived
from American pragmatist philosophy). The crux of it is that views of the world
are developed in interaction with it. Knowledge precedes action but is also
formed in it. The underlying fundamental issues are treated in the philosophy
blog.
Third, I
consider organization: the role and functioning of organizations and networks,
with due attention to issues of governance in combination with competence, and
the underlying issues of power and dependence. The underlying philosophy of
self and other, in collaboration and competition, is treated in the philosophy
blog. In particular, this includes the nature and the working of trust.
Concerning networks I consider the role of network structure and position for
competence and governance.
Finally, I
consider innovation policy and the political economy of innovation. This
includes the consideration of institutions, societal systems in which
organizations operate, and political processes. Here I employ a discussion of
markets that is (or will be) included in the philosophy blog.
The blog
allows for comments from readers, and I encourage readers to use that facility.
I will respond to any comments made.
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