We use scare quotes around the term‘school'to suggest a‘scholarly alignment of concerns and outlooks,
constraints on internally generated funds are compounded by the fact that the sector does not register on the radar screens of conventional banks
and synergies to be exploited by better integrating social challenges at the core of innovation activities.
are prepared increasingly to experiment with social network technologies-from simple systems like Skype to other more sophisticated tele-presence systems
this concluding section is structured to reflect the four core themes of WP2. 6. 1 Conceptual linkages between S3
The concept of the mundane economy embraces sectors that loom large in meeting core human needs-such as health education, food, water, housing, energy, social care and the like
This socio-ecological critique challenges the conceptual core of the S3 concept-which is need that regions to differentiate themselves,
housing, food etc), supported by a set of common catalysts (eg ICT and public procurement).
Our core argument here basically consisted of two warnings to policy-makers and practitioners alike:(i) that the social enterprise sector was too heterogeneous to justify generalisations about its contribution to either S3
because the core argument of this reflections paper is that social innovation is too amorphous and heterogenous a concept,
The Report of the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
Regional Innovation Monitor, Thematic Paper 6. Prepared for DG Enterprise and Industry. Available at http://ec. europa. eu/enterprise/policies/innovationpolicy/regionalinnovation/monitor/index. cfm?
finished productsmadefromfabricsandsimilarmaterials2350. 9193.28 Agricultural production 0140.7394.01 Heavyconstructionotherthanbuildingconstructioncontractors1640. 7394.74 Textilemillproducts 22 40.7395.46 Food andkindredproducts 20 30.5496.01 Printing, publishing, andalliedindustries 2730.5496.5515.0095.00 Building
gas, andsanitaryservices 49 30.5497.64 Leather andleatherproducts 3120.3698.00 Oil andgasextraction 1320.3698.3715.00100.0 Building materials, hardware, gardensupply, andmobilehomedealers5220. 3698.73 Mining andquarryingofnonmetallicminerals, exceptfuels1410. 1898.91 Construction specialtradecontractors
To download the matching Excel spreadsheet, just type the link into your Internet browser, starting with the http://dx. doi. org prefix.
and your PC is connected to the Internet, simply click on the link. You'll find Statlinks appearing in more OECD books.
Learning processes are at the core of entrepreneurship and SME innovation. Yet many emerging and potential business creators are lacking entrepreneurship skills such as in risk assessment,
2009). 2 The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor survey in 53 countries suggests that only 6. 5%of new entrepreneurs are highexpectation entrepreneurs,
New technologies such as computer-numerically-controlled production tools have made it possible for small firms in many industries to produce small batches as efficiently as large firms once produced large batches.
representing revolutions in technologies and markets (e g. the assembly line, the integrated circuit, the personal computer). Incremental innovations are the opposite:
Autio, E. 2007) Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2007 Global Report on High-Growth Entrepreneurship, Babson college, Massachusetts.
Possibilities for Prosperity, Basic books, New york. Potter, J. 2005), Local Innovation Systems and SME Innovation Policy, in OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook, OECD, Paris, pp
This includes significant improvements in technical specifications, components and materials, incorporated software, user-friendliness or other functional characteristics.
This includes significant changes in techniques, equipment and/or software. Marketing innovation: The implementation of a new marketing method involving significant changes in product design or packaging, product placement, product promotion or pricing.
At each stage, the funding decision involves external panel evaluation, and only 10-20 businesses per year are expected to reach the third phase of financing.
on the other hand, aim to support SMES in the manufacturing sector and software industry, in buying innovative consulting services and know-how from so-called innovation agents,
seeks to contribute to the manufacturing capabilities of Japanese industry by creating networks between SME companies that possess core basic technologies with downstream normal industry,
and regional level) into a series of 30 core products that will share a common brand.
A number of innovation-related products are included also in the range of core business support products,
1. As%of panel respondents. 2. As%of innovating firms. 3. Index scale of 0-6 from least to most restrictive.
university science parks, incubators and software parks across China. At the national level alone, by 2008 53 high-technology development zones, 62 university science parks, about 200 business incubators and 35 software parks had been developed through governmental support.
In the period 1992-2005, the revenue, industrial value added and profit of the enterprises operating in the 53 development zones grew at an average annual rate of 47.0%,30.5%and 38.2%,respectively.
OECD elaboration based on ORBIS database available from Bureau Van dijk (Geoda software. 1st range (0) 2nd range (891) 3rd range (516) 4th range (493) 5th range (488) Figure 3. 4. Agglomerations of HTM firms in the United states LISA methodology Source:
OECD elaboration based on ORBIS database available from Bureau Van dijk (Geoda software. High-High low-Low Low-High High-low 3. KNOWLEDGE FLOWS SMES, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION OECD 2010 141 Figure 3. 6, based on the same methodology
OECD elaboration based on ORBIS database available from Bureau Van dijk (Geoda software. 1st range (0) 2nd range (790) 3rd range (400) 4th range (401) 5th range (399) 6th range (398) Figure 3. 6. Agglomerations of KISA firms in the United states
OECD elaboration based on ORBIS database available from Bureau Van dijk (Geoda software. High-High low-Low Low-High High-low 3. KNOWLEDGE FLOWS SMES, E 142 NTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION OECD 2010 Cluster rankings:
Based on these core messages the following key policy recommendations are formulated. Key policy recommendations Design advice and training programmes for start-up entrepreneurs who have strong technological knowledge
about 200 business incubators and 35 software parks (see China's Country Note). Cooperatives and business consortia can also support small-firm upgrading through, for example, joint technology purchase.
computers and office machinery (30; electronics-communications (32; scientific instruments (33. KISA comprises: post and telecommunications (64;
computer and related activities (72; research and development (73). 3. An overview on the ORBIS database is given in Annex 3. A1. 4. Patent protection can be sought abroad
Christensen, C. 1993), The Rigid Disk drive Industry: A History of Commercial and Technological Turbulence, Business History Review, Winter, No. 67, pp. 531-588.
and Economic Development, OECD, Paris. OECD (2005), SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook, OECD, Paris. OECD (2007a), Competitive Regional Clusters:
i e. the date of company incorporation and the entry of a new company in the open panel dataset tend respectively to anticipate
or legal headquarters may diverge from the place where it carries out its core economic activities.
E 164 NTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION OECD 2010 The importance of entrepreneurship skills for SMES and start-ups Learning processes are at the core of entrepreneurship and SME development.
Box 4. 1. Core characteristics of entrepreneurs Knowledge. An entrepreneur is able to identify and extract knowledge that is relevant.
because they require the integration of several other skills, with both a horizontal understanding of business development and a vertical specialisation in one or more fields related to core competitive advantage.
Teachers are pressed hard to deliver on their core programmes the basis for recruitment and promotion and those not working on core activities can find it difficult to justify strong investments in what may be seen by their hierarchies and peers as side projects, whatever the expressed interest of the students.
Teaching approaches must also evolve to accommodate how entrepreneurship skills are learned best rather than be tethered to traditional classroom forms.
1) Successful learners are skilled in generic processes and activities such as core skills; appreciate the relevance of what they are learning;
Examples from this group include the provision of management skills for integrating e-commerce into the core business.
Governments have a critical role to play as catalysts here, providing an appropriate policy context and support for the resources,
2006), Knowledge Intensive Service Activities (KISA) in Software Innovation, International Journal of Services Technology and Management, IJSTM Special Issue, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp
Martinez-Fernandez, C.,C. Soosay, V. V. Krishna, T. Turpin, M. Bjorkli (2005b), Knowledge Intensive Service Activities (KISA) in Innovation of the Software
OECD (2002), Management training in SMES, OECD, Paris. OECD (2003), OECD Employment Outlook, OECD, Paris. OECD (2005), SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook, OECD, Paris
The Social Entrepreneurship Monitor is a special report of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) UK project to estimate the percentage of social entrepreneurs in UK society using population survey data.
7 in this particular case the core mission is to provide health services, but in conjunction with preventing illness through a wider approach to the different factors influencing illness (poor housing and diet).
5. SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SOCIAL INNOVATION SMES, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION OECD 2010 193 Health-related problems are at the core of the initiative of pharmaceutical scientist Victoria G. Hale,
Social innovation can be driven by governments (new models of public health), the private sector (open source software) or civil society (fair trade)( Mulgan et al.
The ammado donations widget is one of the platform's latest features. The cutting-edge micro-donations software is a compact
vibrant space, the same size as an iphone screen and can sit on any website,
it displays various degrees of innovation and change; it is constrained by the external environment (p. 10.
Harding, R. 2006), Social Entrepreneurship Monitor: United kingdom 2006, Foundation for Entrepreneurial Management, London Business school, full paper available at www. london. edu/assets/documents/PDF/Gem soc ent web. pdf. Harris, M
and this requires the display of innovativeness, proactiveness and risk management behaviour. This behaviour is constrained by the desire to achieve the social mission
and technology, including aerospace, pharmaceuticals, computers and office machinery, electronicscommunications, and scientific instruments. Incremental innovation An improvement on existing products or processes that is achieved through internal R&d,
computer and related activities; research and development. Learning failure A type of systemic failure occurring when firms in an innovation system have not developed sufficient absorptive capacity to codify
The Cafu Foundation has a Library, Playroom, Visual Arts Room and Workshop, Computer Rooms, Dental care Office, Cafeteria, Kitchen and Pantry,
15.7%in Portugal and even European core countries such as France and Italy have high rates of inactivity (10.4 and 10.6%respectively;
http://www. fixmystreet. com). The digital Open source movement is a driving force behind socially innovative cooperative co-production processes.
Linux (to name only a few), were developed collaboratively by Open source Community programmers and volunteers. Open Data movements and innovative/transparent forms of governance go hand in hand (http://data. gov. uk) with these new forms of coproduction.
The Open Data movement lobbies government institutions, international organizations and the private sector to make private and public databases available to application developers.
affecting service provision and employment in most deprived communities over-proportionately (72%of social enterprises reported a negative trading outlook;
This situation is partly due to training programs lacking coherence, comprehensiveness or a global outlook, and also due to there being developed few channels for spreading skills,
World Economic Outlook October 2012; Coping with High Debt and Sluggish Growth. www. imf. org. Jalonen, H. 2011.
while a digital city is built on an online medium with participants consisting of human users and computer programs.
of people and computer programs. Because the process of establishing and maintaining a strong social network is time consuming and effort intensive,
and run on standard Intel Pentium 4 CPU 1. 70 GHZ Machines with 512 MB RAM, WINDOWS XP professional OS.
Sample of User Management Screen User Profile. It is important to track social network evolution for every user at all times (Hanneman,
and verified by a panel of experts include human, financial, physical (equipment and space), and intangible/intellectual resources and are offered as part of the content services to registered users to improve innovations success (Lea et al.,
which could be patent, database, software, copyright materials or literature. The equipment entity manages equipment information like the type of equipment resource,
In all the resource screens, the administrator can search for resources on a combination of different search criterions-City state
Human Resource Screen. Contactuser Other functions provided to the administrator include maintenance functions like addition,
or meanings of data) or helpful tips when a user moves mouse over a field,
It is in the plan to utilize software agents to read and analyze contents of more complex messages for potential collaboration opportunities.
the software agent could 12 Social network Digital City Management Journal of International Technology and Information management review all resources available that match the requester's requirements and can direct the resource to the user (this process is done currently by the human administrator),
and can be accessed from all reporting screens A user-friendly graphical representation offers several advantages including providing a much richer picture
The graphs can be accessed from all the reporting screens. Figure 15 presents availability of human resources and intangible resource for every region.
a ticket status form is designed to displays status of a request for service (a ticket) managed by case managers,
Also as part of future enhancements, software agents can be developed and used to survey the threads of messages (in I3's email system) periodically to help the administrator in understanding the requirements of the users in the system
Concepts, Issues and Implications In public Policy, Computers and Society, September 13-19. Caves, R, . & Walshok, M. 1999).
Studying Online Social networks, The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3 (1), http://www. ascusc. org/jcmc/vol3/issue1/garton. html. Götzl,
A Review of Municipally Owned Information Cities between the United states and Europe, Proceeding of International Association of Computer Information systems Pacific 2005 Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, May 19-21.
and Business Application of Software Intelligent agents. Dr Lea has published in numerous journals including International Journal of Production Research, International Journal of Production Economics, Industrial Management and Data systems, Technovation,
His research interests are in the fields of data/text mining, business process simulation, software agent applications,
product vendors (hardware and asset providers; and managed service providers (overseeing management/operation. Smart technology is also at the hear t of the emerging concept of Industry 4. 0, the so-called 4th industrial revolution based on integration of vir tual and physical production systems.
and has increased the outlook for production across a wide variety of industries from railroads, shipping, local economies, and farming.
and other search engines to self-diagnose and arm themselves with the best available healthcare information online
in order to address society's core challenges arising from the mega trends. The last few years have seen the term Social Innovation being used increasingly widely
As social issues are the core component of innovation it requires the creation of new relationships in the decision making and delivery process.
Profitability that is sustainable to the company and society is the core component of successful Social Innovation,
In addition profitability that is sustainable to the company and society is their core ethos. The companies'overall vision should be dynamic,
and is a core element of Social Innovation. It is a mixture of B2b and B2c models, focussing to a higher degree on a number of social parameters (environment, business ethics, etc.),
Mobile devices and social media have been an important driving force for example in the Healthcare industry, par ticularly around the power patient enabling faster
We have explored how Social Innovation is positioned ideally to meet the rapidly changing core needs of both individual citizens
-A core objective of Government policy thinking is balanced regional development'.'The NSS represents the Government's roadmap for achieving this objective.
including private ICT companies such as Google, Hewlett packard, Microsoft, Accenture and Samsung. The pledges also come from universities, academies and local governments as well as national coalitions
which will deliver short‘hands on'courses in core computer science for pupils aged 14-15,
Another pledge comes from Microsoft Europe which aims to increase the number of their high quality apprenticeships and internships by half over three years, from the current 9, 000 to 13,500.
Afke Schaart, senior director for EU Institutional Affairs at Microsoft told Euractiv that in January the company committed to a further two pledges focused on fostering entrepreneurship
Microsoft's senior director for EU institutional Affairs said. John Higgins, director general of Digital Europe, the association for the digital technology industry in Europe, said that the initiative had created already competition between actors involved on pledges.
Afke Schaart, senior director for EU Institutional Affairs at Microsoft, said that the growing integration of ICT across various sectors,
We need more highly specialised computer engineers. The ICT sector currently lacks people with the right skills to accomplish a number of functions, from developing software applications and security systems,
to providing lowerend support services such as systems and network administration and user support, Schaart told Euractiv.
Higgins added that many young people are unaware that a computer programme degree can lead to jobs making music videos, computer games or developing medical technology.
Big data is a goldmine for companies Computer algorithms are better at diagnosing severe cancer than humans,
It's a demonstrable fact that a computer algorithm is better at diagnosing severe cancer than a human.
Italy or Poland where almost one adult in five has no computer experience. Age disparities were detected also with high school pupils having sometimes better skills than higher education graduates.
or exercise softwares while 70%of teachers are asking for training to improve their digital skills.
gaming. software, etc. it is increasingly being propagated to all industries whether healthcare, energy, retail, or financial services.
, organizational characteristics and technology 5 No Some Viscio and Pasternak (1996) Global core, governance, business units, services and linkages 5 No No Timmers (1998) Product/service/information
value network and competitive strategy 6 No No Gartner (2003) Market offerings, competencies, core technology investments,
and bottom line 4 No Some Hamel (2001) Core strategy, strategic resources, value network and customer interface 4 No No Petrovic et al.
objectives, value proposition, resource sources, success factors, channels, core competencies, customer segments, and IT infrastructure8 No No Applegate (2001) Concept,
Present and Future in the Mirror of the Past 1 1. The Computer Revolution, the"Productivity Paradox"and the Economists Over the past forty years, computers have evolved from a specialized and limited role in the information processing
today computing equipment is to be found on the desktops and work areas of secretaries,
In the process, computers and networks of computers have become an integral part of the research and design operations of most enterprises and, increasingly, an essential tool supporting control and decision-making at both middle and top management levels.
In the latter half of this forty year revolution, microprocessors allowed computers to escape from their boxes,
since the late 1980's. It was at that point, in the midst of the personal computer revolution,
"You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.""1 Almost overnight this contrasting juxtaposition achieved the status of being treated as the leading economic puzzle of the late twentieth century,
as a consequence, the emergence of modern computer, telecommunication and satellite technologies have changed fundamentally the structure of the American economy.
It could be maintained that there is little that is really novel or surprising in the way in which the rise of computer capital,
arguing that the imputed gross earnings on hardware and software stocks amount to such a small fraction of GDP that the rapid growth of real computer assets per se can hardly be expected to be making a very significant contribution to the real GDP growth rate. 6 But,
however valid an observation that might be, it fails to satisfactorily dispel the surprise and mystery surrounding the collapse of the TFP growth rate. 7 5see Abramovitz and David 1973, David 1977, Abramovitz 1989.
Ch. 4, Table 4-2. The 1987-1993 growth rates of inputs of computer hardware and software (allowing for quality improvements) are put at approximately 17 and 15 percent per annum
or (2) there has been a vast overselling of the productivity-enhancing potential of investments in computers
and related information equipment and software--due in part to misplaced technological enthusiasm, and also to exaggeration of the relative scale of those capital expenditures,
and therefore holding to the cautious optimist position in regard to the computer revolution's potential economic impact,
In section 4 the discussion takes up some of the technological realities that justly can be said to underlie disappointments with the impact of computers upon the more readily measurable forms of task-productivity.
The argument here is that the historical course of the development of the personal computer as a general-purpose machine has not been conducive to enhancing productivity of the sort that can be gauged by conventional measurement approaches.
and computer productivity paradox are first and foremost consequences of a mismeasurement problem must produce a consistent account of the timing
but, before tackling less tractable conceptual questions we should briefly review their bearing on the puzzle of the slowdown and the computer productivity paradox. 2. 1 Over-deflation of output:
This has been a central theme in the business and economics literature on modern manufacturing at least since the 1980's. 15 The increasing proliferation of new goods and its connection with the application of computers,
personal computer models, which currently number over 400, or computer software titles, the count of which is in the neighborhood of a quarter of a million),
the multiplication of the number of models available for consumers to chose among within preexisting product classes is a striking manifestation of this phenomenon.
Of course, some progress has been made in resolving the computer productivity paradox by virtue of the introduction of so-called hedonic price indexes for the output of the computer and electronic business equipment industries themselves.
Thus the hedonic correction of computer and related equipment prices has done wonders as a boost to the growth rate of output
the hedonic deflation of investment expenditures on computer equipment contributes to raising the measured growth of the computer capital services,
The implied rise in computer-capital intensity, and therefore in overall tangible capital-intensity, supports the growth rate of labor productivity in those sectors.
The first involves the surprising appearance of excess rates of return on computer capital. These appeared when economists sought to illuminate the macro-level puzzle through statistic studies of the impact of 20 The difference between the measured TFP performance of the computer-producing
and the computer-using sectors of the economy, which emerges starkly from the growth accounting studies by Stiroh (1998),
may be in some part an artifact of the distorting influence of the Bureau of Economic Analysis use of hedonic price deflators just for the output of the industry producing computer equipment.
See, e g. Wykoff (1995) for an evaluation of other dimensions of the distortions this has created in comparisons of productivity performance. 12 IT at the microeconomic level,
The contrast between the strong (cross-section) revenue productivity impacts of observed computer investments and the weaker (time series) effects gauged in terms of task productivity,
In view of the rapid rate of anticipated depreciation of capital value due to the high rate (circa 20 percent per annum) at which the price-performance ratio of new computer equipment has been falling,
and the market valuation of computer-intensive firms for concluding that the diffusion of information technologies among large business firms has entailed substantial levels of intangible asset formation. 23 The latter,
revised 1999) report that computer usage is associated with very high calculated values of Tobin's q,
and the advent of digital information processing technologies in particular, having stimulated the creation of new software assets within the learning organizations,
The problem of non-market production of intangibles in the form of computer software was relatively more serious in the mainframe era than it has subsequently become
and so contribute to a downward drag on the measured productivity growth rate. 4. Troubles with Computers: Effects of General Purpose Machines on Task-Productivity Laying the whole burden of explanation on the notion that existing concepts and methods are inadequate in accounting for the effects of the computer revolution is,
however, not satisfactory. Even if a large share of these effects vanish into territory inadequately mapped using existing statistical measurement approaches,
that there are real problems in delivering on the productivity promises of the computer revolution. 4. 1 Component performance
and system performance A common focus of attention in the computer revolution is the rapidity with
For software designers, Moore's law promises that new computational resources will continue to grow
even if the user adopts the new technology, the learning time in mastering new software, the greater number of choices that may need to be made to navigate a growing array of options
and the longer times required for the more complex software to be executed will offset part or all of the gains from increasing component performance.
It is recognized now widely that the costs of personal computer ownership to the business organization may be tenfold the size of the acquisition costs of the computer itself. 24 Many of these costs are unrelated to the 24 Some of these costs are recorded directly
the use of personal computers is unaffected therefore relatively by microprocessor performance improvements. From a productivity measurement standpoint, the relatively constant unit costs imposed by personal computer ownership have been compounded further by the costs of the continuing spread of the technology throughout the organization.
To be sure, employees are being given general purpose tools that may be and often are useful for devising new ways to perform their Work at the same time, however,
it is apparent to most sophisticated users of computers that the extension of these capabilities also creates a vast new array of problems that must be solved to achieve desired aims.
file server support and standards for archiving and backup of electronic copies of documents all now enter into the task of producing a business letter.
the ancillary complications of preparing to perform a computer-assisted task may fill the time previously allotted for its completion.
that has characterized the personal computer revolution, provided by David and Steinmueller (1999: Section 7). 15 4. 2 The general purpose computing trajectory,
from mainframes to the PC revolution The widespread diffusion of the stored program digital computer is intimately related to the popularization of the personal computer as a"general purpose"technology for information processing,
The historical process by which this was achieved in the case of the personal computer has had major implications,
not only for the success of personal computer technology and the hardware and software industries based upon it,
For the personal computer as for its parent the mainframe, and its cousin the minicomputer, much adaptation and specialization has been required to apply a general purpose information processing machine to particular purposes or tasks.
Such adaptations have proved costly, especially so in the case of the personal computer. It is something of an historical irony that the core elements of the adaptation problems attending this GPT's diffusion into widespread business application may be seen to derive from the historical selection of a trajectory of innovation that emphasized the"general purpose"character of the paradigmatic
hardware and software components. The origins of the personal computer required the invention of the microprocessor
which was a technical solution to the problem of creating a more"general purpose"integrated circuit to serve a specific purpose, a more flexible portable calculator--a foundational application that ultimately proved uneconomic due to the lower relative costs of more specialized
integrated circuits. During the 1970's it was recognized that the microprocessor provided a general solution to the problem of the electronic system designer confronted by an ever-growing array of application demands.
During the same period, efforts to down-scale mainframe computers to allow their use for specialized control
and computation applications supported the birth of the minicomputer industry. These two developments provided the key trajectories for the birth of the personal computer.
As microprocessors became cheaper and more sophisticated and applications for dedicated information processing continued to expand,
a variety of task-specific computers came into existence. One of the largest markets for such task specific computers created during the 1970's was dedicated that for word-processing systems,
which appeared as an incremental step in office automation, aimed at the task of producing documents repetitive in content
or format such as contracts, purchase orders, legal briefs, and insurance forms, that could be modified quickly and customized based upon stored formats and texts.
But, dedicated word processors were displaced rapidly by personal computers during the mid-1980's, as the latter were perceived to be more"flexible
"and more likely to be"upgrade-able"as new generations of software were offered by sources other than the computer vendors. 27 The dedicated word processor's demise was mirrored by development in numerous markets where dedicated"task-specific
Digital Equipment Corporation, the leading minicomputer manufacturer retreated from its vertical marketing strategy of offering computer systems specifically designed for newspapers, manufacturing enterprises, and service companies;
it specialized instead in hardware production, leaving the software market to independent software vendors. 28 This process,
which had begun in the late 1970's as an effort to focus corporate strategy, greatly accelerated during the 1980's with the advent of the large-scale personal computer platforms 27 Outside sourcing of applications software represented a significant departure from the proprietary software strategy that the suppliers of dedicated word-processing systems had sought to implement during the 1970's,
and which left them unable to meet the rapidly rising demands for new, specialized applications software.
Moreover personal computers could use many of the same peripherals, such as printers: because the widespread adoption of the new technology raised the demand for compatible printers,
the dedicated word processors found themselves unprotected by any persisting special advantages in printing technology. 28similar decisions were made by all of the U s. computer manufacturers.
See the discussion in Steinmueller (1996). 16 united under the IBM PC standard or utilizing that of Apple's Macintosh.
The"general purpose"software produced for these two platforms not only discouraged task-specific software, it also created a new collection of tasks
and outputs specifically driven by the new capabilities such as"desk top publishing"(typeset quality documents),"
The disappearance of task-based computing in favor of general purpose personal computers and general purpose
(or multipurpose) packaged software was completed thus largely during the 1980's. 29 The early evolution of the personal computer can
therefore be seen as cutting across the path of development of an entire family of technically-feasible information processing systems focused on the improvement of"task-productivity"in applications ranging from word processing to manufacturing operations control.
using a small fraction of their capabilities to emulate the operations of their less expensive (and less intelligent) cousins, the"intelligent"display terminals.
By 1990, then, the personal computer revolution while seizing control of the future of information processing had left carnage in its wake,
The revolutionaries had kept their promise that the PC would match the computing performance of the mainframes of yesteryear.
the spread of partially networked personal computers supported the development of new database and data entry tasks, new analytical and reporting tasks,
The local activities within the organization that were identified as candidates for personal computer applications often could
what remained was a deep chasm between the"mission critical"application embedded in mainframe computers and the growing proliferation of personal computers.
The primary bridge between these application environments was the widespread use of the IBM 3270, the DEC VT-100 and other standards for"intelligent"data display terminals, the basis for interactive data
display and entry to mainframe and minicomputer systems. From their introduction, personal computers had software enabling the emulation of these terminals, providing further justification for their adoption. 30 For an historical account of a potential alternative path of user-driven technological development
one that entailed the reorganization of businesses as an integral aspect of the computerization of their activities,
which general purpose personal computers came to be furnished with"general purpose"personal computer software. It may be accepted that general purpose hardware
and software in combination did"empower"users to think of"insanely great"new applications--to use the rhetoric of Steve jobs,
one of Apple computer's cofounders. On the other hand, however, the disruptive effects of relentless innovation are inimical to the stabilization of routine and the improvement of efficiency of routine performance
which that brings. Moreover, at best only a very small number among the innovative software programs turn out to address the sort of mundane tasks that are sufficiently common to permit them to make a difference to the performance of a large number of users.
But the ubiquity and complementary of these dual"general purpose engines--personal computer hardware and packaged software--has the side-effect of foreclosing the apparent need for more specialized task-oriented software development. 31 Worse still
by the mid-1990's, the competition among packaged software vendors for extending the generality of their offerings became a syndrome with its own name:"
"creeping featurism"or"featuritis.""Making light of these developments in 1995, Nathan Myrvhold of Microsoft suggested that software is a gas that"expands to fill its container...
After all, if we hadn't brought your processor to its knees, why else would you get a new one?
32 Although offered in jest, this comment reflects the serious belief of many in the technological community that continuous technological progress
and upgrading of computers, with which they are engaged centrally, is ultimately for the benefit of the user.
From their perspective, the key to future success lies in establishing increasingly powerful platforms for new generations of software,
and hence elaborate a technological and organizational regime built around a new general purpose technology, the microelectronic digital computing engine--or, for simplicity, the computer.
Chs. 2-4, 12.32 As quoted in W. Wayt Gibbs, Taking Computers to Task, Scientific American, July,
By drawing an explicit analogy between the dynamo and the computer David (1991) sought to use the U s. historical experience to give a measure of concreteness to the general observation that an extended phase of transition may be required to fully accommodate
dynamos and computers Although central generating stations for electric lighting systems were introduced first by Edison in 1881,
Recent estimates of the growth of computer stocks and the flow of services therefrom are consistent with the view that
when computers had evolved not yet so far beyond their limited role in information processing machinery, computer equipment and the larger category of office, accounting
and computing machinery (OCAM) were providing only 0. 56 percent and 1. 5 percent, respectively, of the total flow of real services from the (nonresidential) stock of producers'durable equipment. 34 But,
the growth rate for 1899-1914 is almost precisely the same as that for the ratio of computer equipment services to all producers'durable equipment services in the U s. Does the parallel carry over also,
which has been experienced during the 1979-1997 phase of"the computer revolution";"it took 25 years for the electrified percent of mechanical drive in manufacturing to rise from roughly 0. 5 percent to 38 percent,
the same quantitative change has been accomplished for the computer within with a span of only 18 years.
because the underlying estimates take into account the changing quality of the computer stock; whereas the electrification diffusion index simply compares horsepower rating of the stock of electric motors with total mechanical power sources in manufacturing.
the estimated average rate of growth of the ratio of computer equipment services to all producers'durable equipment services in the U s. turns out to be precisely the same,
Some economists who have voiced skepticism about the ability of computer capital formation to make a substantial contribution to raising output growth in the economy point to the rapid technological obsolescence in this kind of producer durables equipment
pp. 101-103) for a useful comparison of alternative estimates of net and gross basis computer service"contributions to growth".
20 electrification of industry as to render illegitimate any attempt to gain insights into the dynamics of the computer revolution by examining the economic history of the dynamo revolution that took place in the half century before 1929.
which the price-performance ratio of computer equipment has been plummeting so far exceeds the rate of fall in the real unit costs of electric energy that there is little
Table 5-2) estimates the rate of change in real prices of computer services for 1987-1993 to have been-7. 9 percent per annum,
and quality adjusted computer services hardly warrants dismissing the relevance of seeking some insights into the dynamics of the transition to new general purpose technology by looking back at the dynamo revolution.
In arguing for the opposite view Triplett (1998) suggests that Sichel's (1997) estimates of the price of computer services--and, by implication,
He contends that the hedonic price indexes for computers that come bundled with software actually would have fallen faster than the (unbundled) price-performance ratios that have been used as deflators for investment in computer hardware.
Sichel's (1997) price indexes of quality adjusted computer services (from hardware and software) would seriously underestimate the relevant rate of decline.
But, Triplett's argument seems to suppose that operationally relevant computer speed is indexed appropriately by CPU-speed,
whereas many industry observers have pointed out that the bundled PC operating system has grown so large that more processing power does not translate into more effective operating power.
Furthermore, in the same vein it may be noticed that the slower rate of fall in computer services prices as estimated by Sichel (1997) are more in accord with the observation that applications software packages also have ballooned in size,
that CPU speed may be weighted too heavily by the hedonic indexes for hardware, inasmuch as the utility of (net) computer power 37 Fortuitously,
these dates bound the period in which the possibility of a universal electrical supply system emerged in the U s as a practical reality,
and that over much of the period since the 1960's the stock of legacy software running on mainframes continued to grow,
without being rewritten to optimally exploit the capacity available on the new and faster hardware. Finally, a deeper,
and equally deserved comment may be offered regarding the casual dismissals of the regime transition hypothesis on the grounds that the analogy between computer
which prices associated with electricity and computer services. Such attempts are themselves instances of the misuse of historical analogies.
computer and dynamo, once again While there still seems to be considerable heuristic value in the historical analogy that has been drawn between"the computer and the dynamo,"a cautious,
when suggesting (in 1989-1990) that it perhaps was still too soon to be disappointed that the computer revolution had failed to unleash a sustained surge of readily discernable productivity growth throughout the economy.
nor does it claim anything whatsoever about the future temporal pace of the computer's diffusion.
None of these developments are likely to displace the use of personal computers in the production
which the general purpose computer was invented originally. What they do promise are greater and more systematic efforts to integrate information collection, distribution and processing.
The environmental niches in which these devices were able to achieve a foothold were ones where the mass-produced personal computer was neither appropriate nor robust.
These more"task specialized"devices have become sufficiently ubiquitous to provide the infrastructure for task-oriented data acquisition and display systems,
Secondly, the capabilities of advanced personal computers as network servers have become sufficiently well developed that it is possible for companies to eliminate the chasm between the personal computer
and resource sharing during the personal computer era. In this new networked environment, the re-configuration of work organization becomes a central issue;
The common standards defining Internet technology have the fortuitous feature that virtually all personal computers can be configured similarly
The"general purpose"trajectory followed by the spectacular development of personal computer technology has reduced greatly the price-performance ratio of the hardware,
as personal computers were added to existing mainframe capacity, rather than substituted for it, and, indeed, were utilized under by being allocated the role of intelligent terminals.
and telecommunications components that allow them to be linked through sophisticated networks to other such appliances, mainframe computers and distributed databases,
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