A Study of Innovation in Manufacturing: Determinants, Processes, and Methodological Issues. Volume II: Case Studies of Innovation Decision Making in the U.S. Footwear Industry

摘要

The project involved an in-depth study of the adoption and diffusion of technological innovations in the footwear manufacturing industry. The research design included a panel study of a sample of footwear manufacturing firms complemented by several case studies of innovation decisionmaking in individual footwear firms. The research design also permitted analysis of certain methodological issues in innovation research, including the relative merits of retrospective and real-time methodologies. Volume Two presents the results of five case studies of innovation decisionmaking. The nature of innovation decisionmaking is discussed under the external environment, managerial perceptions of the external environment, and the internal environment. The case studies examine various hypotheses about such decisionmaking that could not be adequately addressed with a panel study methodology. (Copyright (c) Social Science Research Institute 1980.)