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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management pp 1387–1389Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Radical and Incremental Technical Change

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Abstract

Inspired by Schumpeter, researchers studying the influences of technical change on industries and firms have sought to classify types of technical change according to how dramatic the shift is in the technology underlying products in an industry. Such technical changes have been commonly classified as either radical or incremental. Radical technical change is a discontinuous shift in the base of scientific or technical knowledge underlying the products in an industry or product class, whereas incremental technical change is continuous refinement along an existing technological trajectory.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Mary J. Benner

Authors
  1. Mary J. Benner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mary J. Benner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. GSBPP, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, USA

    Mie Augier

  2. Berkeley Research Group, LLC, Emeryville, CA, USA

    David J. Teece

  3. Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    David J. Teece

Copyright information

© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd., part of Springer Nature

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Benner, M.J. (2018). Radical and Incremental Technical Change. In: Augier, M., Teece, D.J. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-00772-8_703

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