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Network Approach Toward Innovation |
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Saxenian describes how the Silicon Valley variety of responsiveness provided for tremendous breakthroughs with its network approach to innovation. The pandemic in California is a constant state of flux - of technologies, careers, projects and markets. Technological innovations in design and fabrication were constant. Turnover was rampant. Projects and entire organizations were thrown together, often with little more than a hand-drawing and a page and a half explanation to act as impetus for movement and for funding.
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This was possible because of Silicon Valley's dynamic network of venture capitalists, entrepreneurial engineers, professional consultants and specialist prototyping operations. This supportive environment allowed people with good ideas to act on them, without having to work the whole thing out themselves. There was no shortage of collaborators, even amongst what could be called "the competition". Often, the biggest ideas came out of informal chats in local bars. The new method, the emerging market, and the elegant solution were always on the tip of someone's tongue.
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These informal networks, coupled with staggering turnover rates, industry forums, and university collaboration, sped up the diffusion of the latest and the hottest. This traffic of innovation was largely informal. It meant that organizations were able to detect and act on new opportunities and threats, with barely a whisper of warning. No one counted on financial measures to provide guidance. The network itself was the key to responding to emerging markets, because designing a winning product always meant incorporating devices or processes into the design, that other companies had yet to offer.
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Saxenian, Annalee. Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, MA. 1994.
This is a fascinating examination of how a region's industrial culture can provide significant competitive advantages to that region's companies. By comparing and contrasting the differences between how business works on Route 128 in Massachusetts, and in Silicon Valley in California, Saxenian reveals why Silicon Valley has become synonymous with high technology, and why few people have even heard about Route 128.
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Saxenian provides a detailed examination of the two models, introducing readers to the innovative practices which have lead to many of Silicon Valley's innovations. Regional Advantage is a treasure chest for executives keen on improving their external relations with suppliers, subcontractors, customers and even their competitors.
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