THE ‘TECHNOLOGICAL TAKE-OFF’ AND THE ‘CRITICAL MASS’. A TRIAL CONCEPTUALIZATION

Ewa Lechman ()

No 26, GUT FME Working Paper Series A from Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdansk University of Technology

Abstract: Similar to economic growth, the process of technology diffusion may well be approximated by easily distinguishable phases (stages). During the initial phase, the process of diffusion slows, whereas subsequently, under favourable circumstances, it accelerates and proceeds at an exponential growth rate, ultimately approaching relative stabilisation (maturity) when the growth rates gradually diminish. Following the proposed by Rostow (1956) conceptualization of the ‘take-off’, this work is a trial conceptualization of the concepts related to the technology diffusion process, namely – ‘technological take-off’ and the ‘critical mass’. It demonstrates the ‘step-by-step’ procedure of the identification of the ‘critical mass’, and the interval when the ‘technological take-off’ emerges. We propose the term ‘technological take-off’ and define it the time interval when the nature of the diffusion process is radically transformed due to shifting the rate of diffusion and forcing the transition from condition of stagnation into dynamic and self-sustaining growth (diffusion) of new technology; while the ‘critical penetration rate’ we define as the threshold that, once passed, provokes the diffusion to become self-perpetuating.

Keywords: technology; technology diffusion; critical mass; take-off (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://cdn.files.pg.edu.pl/zie/Strona%20polska/Na ... s/WP_GUTFME_A_26.pdf First version, 2015 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The ‘technological take-off’ and the 'critical mass'. A trial conceptualization (2014)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gdk:wpaper:26

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in GUT FME Working Paper Series A from Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdansk University of Technology Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wojciech Drapinski ().