Industrial Organisation and Innovation. An International Study of the Software Industry

This book studies the industrial organisation of innovative activities in the computer software and services industry. This knowledge-intensive activity shows important differences with respect to manufacturing and, to some extent, to the traditional service sectors. The theoretical analysis drawns on industrial organization and innovation management. The empirical analysis illustrated in this work is based on a conceptual framework that takes into account the interactions between technical and organisational innovations at the firm level and focuses on the innovation process as a ‘social construction’ involving different types of institutions: firms endowed with different skills and producing a variety of products and services, users and academic research centres. Market selection, the evolution of technological opportunities and other institutional mechanisms (including public policies) influence the specialisation and the division of labour among these institutions. This issue is analysed by comparing the historical evolution of software activities in Europe and the United States