Innovation implementation in high technology manufacturing: A chaos-theoretic empirical analysis

Journal of Operations Management · 1998 · Volume 16 · Issue 4

Abstract

This paper conceptualizes the process of innovation implementation in high technology manufacturing, a natural setting of multiple and ongoing innovation implementation. Building on the developments in organizational learning theory, we frame the process of innovation implementation in high technology manufacturing as a problem of balancing between exploitation and exploration. Through the application of a logistic difference equation, we provide insights into the dynamics of balancing between exploitation and exploration, and show that innovation implementation in high technology manufacturing can be conceptualized as a chaotic process, in a scientific sense. Using time series data from a wafer fabrication plant, the high technology manufacturing plant that served as our research site over a period of 125 weeks, we test this conceptualization. We find empirical support for the conceptualization of innovation implementation in high technology manufacturing as a chaotic process. We discuss the managerial implications of our study's findings, and the directions for the future research.

Keywords

Innovation implementation, High technology manufacturing, Chaos theory

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