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Innovation: A Very Short Introduction Paperback – 25 March 2010

by Dodgson (Author), Gann (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 23 ratings
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What is innovation? How is innovation used in business? How can we use it to succeed? Innovation - the ways ideas are made valuable - makes an important contribution to economic and social development, and is an increasingly topical issue. Not so long ago, there were no information technologies, commercial airlines, or television companies. Our parents were born into a world very different to today's, where television had yet to be invented, and there was no penicillin or frozen food. When our grandparents were born there were no internal combustion engines, aeroplanes, cinemas, or radios. In the last 150 years our world has been transformed - largely in part due to innovation. This Very Short Introduction looks at what innovation is and why it affects us so profoundly. It examines how it occurs, who stimulates it, how it is pursued, and what its outcomes are, both positive and negative. Innovation is hugely challenging and failure is common, yet it is essential to our social and economic progress. Mark Dodgson and David Gann consider the extent to which our understanding of innovation developed over the past century and how it might be used to interpret the global economy we all face in the future. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0199568901
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0199568901
  3. Publisher
    Oxford University Press UK
  4. Publication date
    25 March 2010
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    11.43 x 1.27 x 17.78 cm
  7. Print length
    162 pages
  8. See all details
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Product description

Review

Despite the difference in surnames, Mark Dodgson and I are brothers. I have known him and his faults all his life. How he wrote a book like this with David Gann I have no idea, but here it is, and a very good book too. It tells a fascinating story, and one of growing importance. The ability to innovate is both expected and valued in the worlds of science and the arts: here we read about its importance in the field of business, and about how vastly our lives have changed and continue to change because of the innovative talents of individuals, and the innovation strategies of forward-thinking companies. There is a great deal here to fascinate not only those who are professionally engaged in business, but everyone who takes an intelligent interest in how our world is managed. (Philip Pullman)

Innovation has always been fundamental to leadership, be it in the public or private arena. This insightful book teaches lessons from the successes of the past, and spotlights the challenges and the opportunities for innovation as we move from the industrial age to the knowledge economy. (Linda Sanford, Senior Vice President, IBM)

About the Author

Mark Dodgson's research interests are in the areas of corporate strategies and govenment policies for technology and innovation. He has authored over 50 articles and book chapters, as well as written seven books. David Gann is responsible for a large portfolio of research in collaboration with firms in design, manufacturing, engineering, and construction. He is also co-Director of the EPSRC Innovation Studies Centre at Imperial College London.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press UK (25 March 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 162 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199568901
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199568901
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 11.43 x 1.27 x 17.78 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 23 ratings

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  1. Dodgson, Mark, Gann, David

    Dodgson, Mark, Gann, David

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  2. Mark Dodgson

    Mark Dodgson

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    Mark is an international authority on innovation. He has researched, taught and advised companies and governments in over 60 nations throughout the world.

    As well as having led a leading Management School, Mark has experience of being on the Board of Directors of major international companies, and founding a start-up.

    He holds Australian and British passports.

    For more details see: www.markdodgson.org

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  3. David M. Gann

    David M. Gann

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Jean-Guy Frenette, MBA, CHRP
5.0 out of 5 stars Innovation 101 pour PDG
Reviewed in Canada on 26 January 2017
Verified Purchase
Excellente synthèse sur ce sujet à la mode!
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Subhadra
4.0 out of 5 stars It's a good place to start if you are looking to get ...
Reviewed in India on 6 October 2016
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It's a good place to start if you are looking to get a quick peek into the world of innovation.
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Brian
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent introduction to a complex subject
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 May 2012
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I recently had reason to add to my book collection some literature on innovation, a subject about which I had little knowledge. I was keen to find publications that spanned the key principles of innovation rather than an exhaustive study of a subject I suspect is extremely complex and "rhizomatic" in nature. The subtitle on the cover of this publication `A Very Short Introduction' caught my attention.

`Innovation: A Very Short Introduction' delivers exactly what it says on the cover, presenting, to the reader, a concise text that not only manages to cover the key issues associated with innovation (in less than 150 pages) but also includes some really excellent example, both historical and contemporary. I particularly enjoyed reading about personalities, such as Wedgwood, Schumpeter, and Edison, who represent important historical `actors' in this narrative. Furthermore, I was fascinated to read the examples of innovations provided in this wonderful introduction, including those that serve to highlight the importance of learning from failure; the chapter titled `London's Wobbly Bridge' was of particular interest to me as I cross London's Millennium Bridge on a regular basis but was totally unaware of `wobbly start'.

In conclusion I have no hesitation in recommending this book to anyone looking for a short introduction to the topic of innovation. If you are looking for a large amount of detail on this huge and every evolving subject (innovation is currently taking on new levels of meaning in the digital age) then of course a short introduction is not the place to look. For most people this, like so many books in the `Very Short Introductions' series, will do nicely! Well done to all concerned and thanks for sharing your knowledge!
2 people found this helpful
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luis irribarren alcaino
3.0 out of 5 stars and it's a excellent material for my classes Technologic Innovation
Reviewed in the United States on 4 July 2014
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Very interesting. It's very agreably to read this book, and it's a excellent material for my classes Technologic Innovation, for civil Engeniering.
One person found this helpful
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opus
3.0 out of 5 stars A modest proposal for improvement
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2013
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I knew nothing of innovation save as a consumer, and this book is extremely interesting. I do wonder however what the teleology of innovation is, for it seems to have no ultimate purpose, and along the way tends to create problems worse than the previously existant situation. For example the polymer designed by Stephanie Kowlak (to provide protective clothing against bullets) which is described at length in the book would have been pointless had guns not been invented first. Not all innovations are fully desirable: The analogue cassette tape (developement of which ended in the 1990s) is in my view far more versatile than its digital successor the CD - and doesn't everyone say that Vinyl is the only way to listen to recorded music. Were it the case that innovation increased human happiness then perhaps innovations could be justified as a desirable good but that is not the case; in fact human happiness seems to be in inverse proportion to the rise of technology: there seems to me to be a growing gap between humans (who remain much as they were on the Savannah a million years ago) and technology - a problem much at the heart of the writing of philosophers like Heidegger and Habermas. May I also say, and this is merely a reaction of dislike, that the IBM attempt to create a new discipline SSME (that is Services Science Management and Engineering) sounds like Psycho-babble to me. There may be a connection between cooking a meal for you and mounting your legal Defence but surely on that basis everything done for money is SSME. There are enough Mickey Mouse subjects in Academia without IBM's clout inventing another.

In the last few pages of the book, and in perhaps an attempt to sum-up the authors, excelling themsleves, seem to move in to La La land where we are told, for example, that the study of Music may affect Financial Services - or was it the other way round. My mind boggles.

We are, may I say, very fortunate to have a review here from as distinguished an academic as Professor Dror who is concerned about the lack of coverage in the book for environmental challenges of innovation (hardly touched on in the book).
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