5. Findings in Anderson’s (1988) Study

This chapter has five sections. In the first section, the empirical findings from the U.S. flat glass industry in 1920–1980 of the original study of cyclical model of technological change are revealed and discussed. In the original study used four-digit SIC codes for the definition of the industry. The focus in this research is to find out the impacts of this definition on the depth of the analysis. The second, third and fourth sections redefine the performance parameter, technological discontinuity and dominant design concepts of the cyclical model of technology, respectively. In the fifth section the flat glass industry is tested by means of a modified version of the cyclical model of technological change. For the test the U.S. plate glass and sheet glass industries are defined with more accurate five-digit SIC codes. Contrary to the original study of the cyclical model of technological change float glass emerged as the dominant design in both the plate glass industry and plate glass industry both in the United States and Europe. Finally there are critical comments on the entirely quantitative research method and the use of four digit SIC codes. These misinterpretations of the industry are discussed at the beginning of the chapter.