Abstract
In this chapter, we will look at what can be learned from the theory of the diffusion of innovation, from cognitive learning theory, and from anthropological and organizational behavior studies of culture change in organizations. The theoretical presentation is kept to a minimum (but with lots of references) so that we can move on to the theories’ practical implications for (i) why there are barriers to customers accepting innovative products, and (ii) how sellers — and buyers — can overcome these barriers.
“A new technology is something like an undocumented alien; no matter how worthy, the forces keeping it an outsider are stronger than those that can ease it into full citizenship.”
Feigenbaum, McCorduck & Nii, The Rise of the Expert Company
“I hear, and I forget. I see, and I understand. I do, and I remember.”
Confucius
“The inventor can’t do it all, you’ve got to change people.... Human inertia is the problem, not invention. Something in man makes him resist change.” Thomas Alva Edison, February 1921, in Popular Science
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Notes
It was a hybrid mainframe-micro product which was close to state-of-the-art for its time. See Freedman D H (1984) Tapping the Corporate Database. High Technology April
Culture. See (1997) Schools Brief. The Economist (no byline) (November 29) 71–72; Kalish D E (1999) AOL tries to eas the clash of corporate cultures.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (March 28) C2; Marer P (1998) Introducing Culture in Business Courses. International Teaching Resources for Business Indiana University CIBER 12 Autumn 1–8
the mission of a military electronics system. Adapted from Blanchard, B S and W J Fabrycky (1990) Systems Engineering and Analysis. Prentice Hall Englewood Cliffs NJ (2nd edition)
Take-back laws. See Scarlett L (1999) Product Take-Back Systems: Mandates Reconsidered. Policy Study #153 Center for the Study of American Business Washington University St. Louis Missouri
A slightly updated scheme for psychographically segmenting technology buyers is in (no byline)…(1997) Do You Know Your Technology Type? The Futurist September-October 10–11; The article is based on “Why Consumers Buy.” (1996) The Forrester Report. Forrester Research in Cambridge Massachusetts December; See also (no byline) (1998) Are Tech Buyers Different? Marketers say new consumer categories are needed. Business Week (January 26) 64–66
One commentator offers these rules of thumb for time from patent to start of sales… Pincus J (1999) Email via the techno-I listsery January 1
the non-recurring costs of “extricating the company from a fully implemented client/server architecture” — would run $60 million, according to former U.S. Department of Defense CIO Paul Strassman. See www.strassmann.com
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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Phillips, F.Y. (2001). Adopting New-to-the-World Products. In: Market-Oriented Technology Management. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-08500-4_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-08500-4_8
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