Paradoxes in corporate theories of technological innovation

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse some key paradoxes or dualisms in corporate theories of technological innovation. In recent years, the understanding of corporate innovation and technological change seems to have caught a Sculla of paradoxes. Poole and Van de Ven (1989) draw attention to the notion of paradox and the necessity of illuminating theoretical tensions and contradictions in order to stimulate a more broadly-based theory building. We argue that the paradoxes presented here are among the most important challenges of future research and that they cannot be dealt with without a substantial rethinking of theories of technological innovation. In the first section, two major paradoxes in the field are presented and analysed. In the next section, a structurationist framework of technological innovation based on Giddens' work (1976; 1979; 1984) is proposed as a promising research avenue. Further, a new view of the notion and role of planning is presented, based on the ideas developed in the paper. Finally, some implications for future research are discussed.