The role of a single actor in technical innovation and network evolution: An historical analysis of the leather network

Abstract

Innovation is often seen as a vital element in the strategy of many companies seeking to differentiate themselves in a world of excess-capacity and wide customer choice. This single-company view of innovation seems to have been based on the assumption that it is possible for an individual company to "turn on" an innovation tap and change the direction of a business. But more recently, the interconnections between business actors, their activities and resources and the complexity of the innovation process have been emphasised. For example, Dosi (1988) discussed the effects on innovation of complex intersectional linkages and Lundgren (1995) and Håkansson and Waluszewski (2002) highlight how difficult it is to predict the outcomes of any attempt at innovation because of the limitations of actors" "network pictures" (Ford et al, 2003) in a business landscape characterised by interdependency, variety and motion (Hakansson et al 2009).