Introduction

Abstract

The rapid rate of technological change (Gertsen, 2003: 801; Petrick and Echols, 2004: 82) over the past few decades has begun to show an alteration of its very nature. Until only a few decades ago the nature of technological change and, thus, the trajectory along which changes happened used to increase, for the most part relatively steadily. Companies operating in such a technological environment competed by innovating continuously along predictable technological trajectories.