The Case for Discontinuity in the Diffusion of Process Innovations: The Problem of Small Firms in Maturing Industries

The diffusion of innovations is at the core of the pattern of technological change. Many attempts to explain and describe this process have been undertaken during the last decade and a vast bibliography of publications on this subject is presented in Rogers, 1962 and 1983; and Rogers and Shoemaker, 1971. The theory of innovation is an important part of economic and social science, and is both conceptual and formal. Their unity is a necessary premise for the success of any scientific theory.