Alok K. Chakrabarti - Böcker

The collapse of U.S. productivity growth since the late 1960s has been the most severe and persistent of recent economic problems. This volume reviews the extent of the growth slowdown, evaluates several contributing factors, and suggests strategies for improvement. The authors find that inflation, recessions, oil price fluctuations, and other economic disruptions in the 1970s had an averse effect on economic performance, but, they suggest, a slowing in the pace of innovation and a failure to exploit the benefits of innovation also contributed to the weakness in productivity.Baily and Chakrabarti provide a comprehensive assessment of U.S. technology policy and its importance to growth. They argue for continued support of basic science, even though strength in this area does not give the U.S. economy an immediate competitive advantage, and advocate increased support for ""middle ground"" and commercial research. They conclude that this support must be structured to preserve the advantages of the market.

The dynamics of innovation are viewed in this book both from a strategic and project perspective: First, innovations might lead to a radical restructuring of a firm. Second, the necessary restructuring is only possible if highly dedicated and committed individuals cooperate to achieve the desired outcomes. Third, any successful innovation has to fit into a strategic framework. This, in itself, is difficult to identify and it is in flux, depending on changes in the technological and competitive environment as well as the mastering of the innovation process itself. The book assembles contributions from American and German researchers on dynamic aspects of strategy formation and strategic impacts on the one hand, and dynamic aspects of project management on the other hand.