Technological Revolutions and Their Diffusion

TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTIONS AND THEIR DIFFUSION

This part will review the theoretical framework of the propagation and diffusion of the current techno-economic paradigm. Specific attention will be paid to the new characteristics, organizational principles and competitive base. In the next part, the history of lean production system and its connection to the ICT will be reviewed.

The current information technology revolution started with the commercial introduction of microprocessors (roughly in 1971), and was followed by the overlapping set of other radical innovations, which lead to the introduction of minicomputers, software and the Internet. The term technological revolution is warranted because it represents:

• a set of interrelated and interconnected technologies, products and markets;

• an opportunity to increase productivity and efficiency in the whole economy.

While the new sectors become the main engines of growth, the ensuing techno-economic paradigm leads to reorganization and rise in productivity in the rest of the economy. (Perez, 2010) With regards to the current paradigm of information and telecommunication technologies, the most recent empirical studies confirm the above-mentioned narrative. It has been discovered that ICT sector itself has been leading in terms of value added and productivity growth, but has contributed to the rising productivity in other sectors as well (Spiezia, 2012).

The process of the diffusion of a technological revolution brings with it a new techno-economic paradigm. For example, during the mass production paradigm the vertically integrated pyramidal structures were considered to be the model for efficiency. The current paradigm, however, emphasizes bigger fluidity of roles, decentral...

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