66
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
1 collections
    0
    shares

      If you have found this article useful and you think it is important that researchers across the world have access, please consider donating, to ensure that this valuable collection remains Open Access.

      Prometheus is published by Pluto Journals, an Open Access publisher. This means that everyone has free and unlimited access to the full-text of all articles from our international collection of social science journalsFurthermore Pluto Journals authors don’t pay article processing charges (APCs).

      scite_
       
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Reluctance to Innovate: A Case Study of the Titanium Dioxide Industry

      Published
      research-article
      , ,
      Prometheus
      Pluto Journals
      autopoietic, diffusion, innovation, organisational culture, titanium dioxide
      Bookmark

            Abstract

            An autopoietic explanation is offered to explain the reluctance of a major international manufacturer of titanium dioxide to adopt a production process that might have enabled it to retain competitive advantage. Alternative explanations which focus solely on economic considerations and innovation difficulties are discussed, but it is concluded that they are merely part of an autopoietic explanation of a cultural blanket which engulfed the organisation. To support the argument, case evidence is presented on Tioxide's operations with a focus on Burnie, Tasmania.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Journal
            cpro20
            CPRO
            Prometheus
            Critical Studies in Innovation
            Pluto Journals
            0810-9028
            1470-1030
            December 1997
            : 15
            : 3
            : 345-356
            Affiliations
            Article
            8632080 Prometheus, Vol. 15, No. 3, 1997: pp. 345–356
            10.1080/08109029708632080
            b9cf7edc-7028-4ac0-94a5-9d8fc64020f7
            Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Page count
            Figures: 0, Tables: 0, References: 34, Pages: 12
            Categories
            PAPERS

            Computer science,Arts,Social & Behavioral Sciences,Law,History,Economics
            innovation,titanium dioxide,autopoietic,organisational culture,diffusion

            Notes And References

            1. D. Gaskell, ‘TiO2—a brighter future for white pigments’, Chemistry in Britain, June, 1995, p. 432.

            2. R. Kanter, The Change Masters, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1983.

            3. A. Van der Ven, ‘Central problems in the management of innovation’, Management Science, 32, 1986, pp. 590–601. See also A. Marcus, ‘Implementing externally induced innovations: a comparison of rule based and autonomous approach’, Academy of Management Journal, 14, 1988, pp. 77–101.

            4. J. Ryser, ‘New feed, new technique enliven the TiO2 scenario’, Chemical Engineering, 25 November 1985, p. 20.

            5. R. Moenaert, J. Barbe, D. Deschoolmeester & A. De Meyer, ‘Strategies for strategic business units with an ageing technology’, in R. Loveridge & M. Pitt (eds), The Strategic Management of Innovation, Wiley, London, 1990.

            6. E. M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, 3rd edn. The Free Press, New York, 1983.

            7. W. S. Robinson, cited in G. Blainey (ed.), If I Remember Rightly, F.W. Cheshire Publisher, Melbourne, 1967, p. 125.

            8. ICI Press Release, 6 February 1997.

            9. R. Carson, Silent Spring, Houghton-Miflen, Boston, 1962.

            10. European Chemical News, 29 October 1995, p. 4.

            11. European Chemical News, 25 July 1995, p. 4.

            12. ICI Press Release, 7 February 1997.

            13. J. Barksdale, Titanium: Occurrence, Chemistry and Technology, Ronald Press, New York, 1949.

            14. J. McCormack, personal communication.

            15. ICI, internal document, 1996.

            16. Economic Commission For Europe, Use and Disposal of Wastes from Phosphoric Acid and Titanium Dioxide Production, United Nations, New York, 1988, p. 104.

            17. European Chemical News, 1 April 1991.

            18. B. Gold, W.S. Pierce & G. Rosegger, ‘Diffusion of major technological innovations’, in B. Gold (ed.), Technological Change: Economics, Management and Environment, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1964.

            19. Ibid.

            20. European Chemical News, 25 July 1988, p. 4.

            21. European Chemical News, 27 May 1991, p. 29.

            22. DuPont, personal communication.

            23. A. Cooper & D. Schendel, ‘Strategic responses to technological threats’, Business Horizons, 19, 1, 1976, pp. 61–69.

            24. R. Moenaert et al., op. cit., Ref. 5.

            25. J. Galbraith & R. Kazanjian, ‘Developing technologies: R & D strategies of office product firms’, Columbia Journal of World Business, 18, 1983, pp. 37–44.

            26. H. Maturana & F. Varela, Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realisation of the Living, Reidel, London, 1972.

            27. N. Luhman, ‘The autopoiesis of social systems’, in F. Geyer & J. van der Zouwen (eds), Sociocybemetic Paradoxes: Observation, Control and Evolution of Self-Steering Systems, Sage, London, 1986.

            28. G. Morgan, Images of Organisations, Sage, London, 1986.

            29. E. Khalil, ‘Hayek's spontaneous order and Varela's autopoiesis: a comment’, Human Systems Management, 11, 1992, p. 105.

            30. E. Schein, ‘Culture: the missing concept in organisation studies’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 41, 1996, p. 230.

            31. G. Krogh, J. Roos & K. Slocum, ‘An essay on corporate epistemology’, Strategic Management Journal, 15, 1994, pp. 53–71.

            32. M. Hajer, ‘Discourse coalitions and the institutionalisation of policy practices: the case of acid rain in Britain’, in F. Fischer & J. Forester (eds), The Argumentative Turn in Planning and Policy Analysis, Duke University Press, Durham, NC, 1993.

            33. W. S. Robinson, op. cit., Ref. 7, p. 127.

            34. A. Pettigrew, The Awakening Giant: Continuity and Change in Imperial Chemical Industries, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1985.

            Comments

            Comment on this article