Exam 3: Types and Patterns of Innovation

In the era of ferment,firms focus on efficiency and market penetration.

The radicalness of an innovation is absolute.

The S-curve in technological improvement is a plot of performance against effort and money invested in that technology.

When a company that produced vinyl records for the music industry learned that music could be recorded on compact disks to sell,it was facing a competence _____ innovation.

Technologies always get the opportunity to reach their performance limits before being replaced by a new technology.

Ron can be described as being highly skeptical about new ideas and products.He has not yet bought a satellite dish for his home because he is still unsure that it really works.Ron is also very worried about the expense of purchasing the satellite dish.According to this description,Ron is most likely a(n)

Many technologies become valuable to a wide range of potential users only after a set of _____ are developed for them.

When gutter shields were developed,they replaced gutter cleaning services for homeowners wishing to keep leaves and debris out of their gutters.In other words,the same need was met by an entirely new technology.This is an example of a(n)_____ technology.

When hardware and software were first introduced,Bill found it to be very confusing.He heard conflicting claims about which hardware to buy and which software system to use.When he finally bought something it did not work very well.This probably illustrates which stage of the technology evolution model as described by Utterback and Abernathy?

Julie is somewhat skeptical about new innovations and is likely to adopt something new after getting some pressure from her peers.However,she is not so risk averse that she will wait until all uncertainty of a new technology has been resolved; she's willing to accept a little uncertainty if her peers already use the product.Julie is most likely a(n)

The replacement of the typewriter by the word processor is an example of a

Handheld calculators replaced slide rules.This is an example of a(n)_____ innovation.

Briefly define Roger's five adopter categories and explain how a marketer might use this knowledge.

Susan,a highly skilled office worker,came home with a personal computer she had just purchased.Her husband Bill soon discovered that Susan did not know how to use half the features of the computer or its software.This is most likely due to the fact that

In order to initiate a component innovation,a firm requires knowledge about the way components link and integrate to form the whole system.

The CEO of an automobile manufacturer directed her R&D department to come up with a radical innovation.Which of the following ideas best fits the bill?

A CEO recently asked a consultant if it was a good idea to use the S-curve model to predict when a technology would reach its limits.The wise consultant might cite as a limitation that

Why did Schumpeter call the technology cycle one of creative destruction? In your answer explain what is meant by this term and why it is appropriately applied to the technology cycle.

Mr.Inman discovered that if he put garlic salt on a regular hamburger it made it taste more like steak.He could then use a less expensive meat for the "chuckwagon steak" sandwich he sold.This is an example of a(n)_____ innovation.

Many companies are now coming up with better ways to make personal data assistants (PDAs)perform their functions better.This is the specific phase of the technological cycle according to Utterback and Abernathy.