Path dependence as a political construct, the disruptive influence of technology and Japanese aerospace

Path Dependence of Power Relations, Path-Breaking Change and Technological Adaptation

“…While initial work on path-dependence tended to ignore power and politics, the research on path creation (Garud, Kumaraswamy, & Karnoe, 2010) has highlighted the importance of social and political dynamics in the emergence of technological changes (Gruber, 2010;Vanloqueren & Baret, 2009) as well as technological change as a catalyst of social and political change in fields and organizations (McGuire, Fai, & Ozaki, 2010;Reinstaller & Holzl, 2009). Powerful organizational actors may use their influence in decision-making to direct technological changes to serve their own interests.…”

Linking, leveraging and learning: sectoral systems of innovation and technological catch-up in China's commercial aerospace industry

“…Faced with the problem of trying to span an ever greater range of technologies in developing modern airliners, airframe manufacturers have relinquished responsibility for the development and manufacture of many of the larger modules and sub-systems such as wings, fuselage barrels, landing gear and avionics (Cooke and Ehret, 2009;Ehret and Cooke, 2010). Instead these modules are increasingly designed, developed and manufactured by specialist suppliers who not only undertake manufacturing but extensive research and development (McGuire et al, 2010;Smith and Tranfield, 2005). These specialist suppliers are much more than mere subcontractors called upon to manufacture components on a 'build-to-print' basis (Smith and Tranfield, 2005).…”

“…They have a significant level of capability especially with regard to research and development. Many are substantial multinational corporations in their own right (Bédier et al, 2008;McGuire et al, 2010) and these days they make an important contribution to all new commercial airliner development programmes.…”

“…As a result commercial aerospace evolved from a narrow technology base involving a limited range of technologies to a multi-technology industry (Benzler and Wink, 2010;McGuire et al, 2010). One of the biggest changes was the application of digital electronics which gave rise to fly-by-wire (FBW) technology which transformed the control systems of a modern airliner (Langeweische, 2009).…”

“…More recently composite materials have become much more widely used even for relatively large aero-structures such as wings and fuselage sections. At the same time military and civil aerospace technologies, which were once almost identical, have diverged to the point where there is now rarely scope for cross-subsidising the development of new civil airliner projects through the use of military designed technologies (McGuire et al, 2010). Hence large commercial aircraft now utilise a multiplicity of advanced technologies (Nolan et al, 2008), beyond the scope of a single firm.…”