Definition
Technology is a complex system, composed of more than one entity and a relationship that holds between each entity and at least one other entity in the system, to satisfy needs, achieve goals, and solve problems of adopters to take advantage of important opportunities or to cope with consequential environmental threats for purposes of adaptation and/or survival in highly differentiated and volatile environments.
Introduction
Technology has manifold conceptions (Dosi 1988; Basalla 1988; Coccia 2015a, b, 2019a, b, d; Freeman and Soete 1987; Hosler 1994; Nelson and Winter 1982; Oswalt 1976; Utterback et al. 2020). Brey (2009) argues that general public knows what technology is and how it can support human activity. Technology is driven by inventionsof new things that are...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Abernathy WJ, Clark KB (1985) Innovation: mapping the winds of creative destruction. Res Policy 14(1):3–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/0048-7333(85)90021-6
Alexander AJ, Nelson JR (1973) Measuring technological change: aircraft turbine engines. Tech Forecasting Soc Chang 5(2):189–203
Arthur BW (2009) The nature of technology. what it is and how it evolves, Allen Lane–Penguin Books, London
Basalla G (1988) The history of technology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Bigelow J (1829) Elements of technology, 2nd edn. Hilliard, Gray, Little & Wilkins, Boston
Brey P (2009) Philosophy of technology meets social constructivism: a Shopper’s Guide. In: Kaplan DM (ed) Readings in the philosophy of technology, 2nd edn. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, pp 268–324
Bunge M (1990) Treatise on basic philosophy, vol. 7, part II. Kluwer, Dordrecht/Boston
Carroll LSL (2017) A comprehensive definition of technology from an ethological perspective. Soc Sci 6(4):126. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci6040126
Coccia M (2005a) Technometrics: origins, historical evolution and new direction. Tech Forecasting Soc Chang 72(8):944–979. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2005.05.011
Coccia M (2005b) Measuring intensity of technological change: the seismic approach. Tech Forecasting Soc Chang 72(2):117–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2004.01.004
Coccia M (2005c) Metrics to measure the technology transfer absorption: analysis of the relationship between institutes and adopters in northern Italy. Int J Technol Transf Commer 4(4):462–486. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJTTC.2005.006699
Coccia M (2006a) Classifications of innovations: survey and future directions. Working paper Ceris del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Ceris-Cnr working paper, vol. 8, n. 2- ISSN (Print): 1591-0709, Available at arXiv Open access e-prints: http://arxiv.org/abs/1705.08955
Coccia M (2006b) Analysis and classification of public research institutes, world review of science. Technol Sustain Dev 3(1):1–16. https://doi.org/10.1504/WRSTSD.2006.008759
Coccia M (2015a) General sources of general purpose technologies in complex societies: theory of global leadership-driven innovation, warfare and human development. Technol Soc 42:199–226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2015.05.008
Coccia M. (2015b) Technological paradigms and trajectories as determinants of the R&D corporate change in drug discovery industry. Int J Knowledge and Learning, 10(1):29–43. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJKL.2015.071052
Coccia M (2016a) Problem-driven innovations in drug discovery: co-evolution of the patterns of radical innovation with the evolution of problems. Health Policy Technol 5(2):143–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2016.02.003
Coccia M (2016b) The relation between price setting in markets and asymmetries of systems of measurement of goods. J Econ Asymmetries 14(part B):168–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeca.2016.06.001
Coccia M (2017) Sources of technological innovation: radical and incremental innovation problem-driven to support competitive advantage of firms. Tech Anal Strat Manag 29(9):1048–1061. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537325.2016.1268682
Coccia M (2018a) Theorem of not independence of any technological innovation. J Econ Bibliogr 5(1):29–35. https://doi.org/10.1453/jeb.v5i1.1578
Coccia M (2018b) Optimization in R&D intensity and tax on corporate profits for supporting labor productivity of nations. The Journal of Technology Transfer 43(3):792–814. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-017-9572-1
Coccia M (2019a) The theory of technological parasitism for the measurement of the evolution of technology and technological forecasting. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 141:289–304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.12.012
Coccia M (2019b) A theory of classification and evolution of technologies within a generalized Darwinism. Tech Anal Strat Manag 31(5):517–531. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537325.2018.1523385
Coccia M (2019c) Comparative theories of the evolution of technology. In: Farazmand A (ed) Global encyclopedia of public administration, public policy, and governance. Springer Nature Switzerland AG, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3841-1. ISBN: 978-3-319-20927-2, online ISBN 978-3-319-31816-5
Coccia M (2019d) Why do nations produce science advances and new technology? Technology in society, 59(101124):1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2019.03.007
Coccia M (2020) Deep learning technology for improving cancer care in society: new directions in cancer imaging driven by artificial intelligence. Technol Soc 60:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2019.101198
Coccia M, Watts J (2020) A theory of the evolution of technology: technological parasitism and the implications for innovation management. J Eng Technol Manag 55:101552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jengtecman.2019.11.003
Dosi G (1988) Procedures, and microeconomic effects of innovation. J Econ Lit 26(3):1120–1171
Freeman C, Soete L (1987) Technical change and full employment. Basil Blackwell, Oxford
Hickman L (2001) Philosophical tools for technological culture: putting pragmatism to work. Indiana University Press, Bloomington
Hosler D (1994) The sounds and colors of power: the sacred metallurgical technology of ancient West Mexico. MIT Press, Cambridge
Jaffe AB, Trajtenberg M (2002) Patents, citations, and innovations-a window on the knowledge economy, The MIT Press, Cambridge
Kaldor N (1957) A model of economic growth. Econ J 67(268):591–624. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2227704
Martino JP (1985) Measurement of technology using trade-off surfaces. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 27(2–3):147–160
Nelson RR, Winter SG (1982) An evolutionary theory of economic change. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Oswalt WH (1976) An anthropological analysis of food-getting technology. Wiley, New York
Pacey A (1999) Meaning in technology. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Sahal D (1981) Patterns of technological innovation. Addison-Wesley, Reading
Salter WEG (1969) Productivity and technical change. Cambridge University Press, New York
Schmookler J (1966) Invention and economic growth. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Steil B, Victor DG, Nelson RR (2002) Technological innovation and economic performance. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Usher AP (1954) A history of mechanical inventions. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA
Utterback JM, Pistorius C, Yilmaz E (2020) The dynamics of competition and of the diffusion of innovations. MIT Sloan School of Management Working Paper-6054-20, https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/124369
Varian HR (1984) Microeconomic analysis, 2nd edn. Norton, New York
Volti R (2009) Society and technological change, 7th edn. Worth Publishers, New York
Wagner A, Rosen W (2014) Spaces of the possible: universal Darwinism and the wall between technological and biological innovation. J R Soc Interface 11:1–11
Wright G (1997) Towards a more historical approach to technological change. Econ J 107:1560–1566
Yang Y, Pan M, Pan W (2019) Co-evolution through interaction’ of innovative building technologies: the case of modular integrated construction and robotics. Autom Constr 107:102932
Ziman J (ed) (2000) Technological innovation as an evolutionary process. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Coccia, M. (2020). Comparative Concepts of Technology for Strategic Management. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3970-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3970-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences