Wharton Chapter 3

Technology Speciation and the Path of Emerging Technologies

To compare technology’s progression with biological evolution seems like it should be a far-stretched analogy; however, the authors correlate that the same types of environmental adaptations that spur the speciation of animals can also be responsible for developing technologies. To explain their analogy, the authors point out that, like the biologists’ theory of “punctuated equilibrium” where there are bursts of evolutionary changes in animals that deviate from the gradual progression due to specific events such as the formation of geographical barriers separating populations, technology has, likewise, had bursts of new technologies that were stimulated by adapting a previous technology to a new environment with different resources and thus created a new technology. Through the many examples of wireless communication, the internet, radial tires, CAT scanning, automobiles, et cetera, the authors depict and define patterns of technological speciation.

While the analysis of how technologies have emerged is interesting, it is only relevant if we, as current and future businessmen, can apply--and manage—the strategic implications of this knowledge. To actively seek out and direct the stimuli needed to further technological improvements, rather than just allow them to happen gradually, is a purpose we should engage and aspire to. As further motivation, the authors give well-supported advice on selecting market contexts for products, understanding market diversity, and following the lead users of technology to exploit market opportunities and encourage the acceleration of evolution. I feel this information encourages us to look at the possibilities in our very own spheres of influence, rather than wait for a technology to develop in a lab somewhere.