Interrupted innovation: Innovation system dynamics in latecomer aerospace industries
Daniel Vertesy & Adam Szirmai
#2010-059
In this paper we analyse the role of sectoral innovation systems in the
emergence and catch-up of aerospace industries in latecomer economies.
We argue that the aerospace sector is characterized by a process of
interrupted innovation. Competitive pressures and the cyclical nature of
the industry not only require shifts in the direction of innovation and
changes in the production system, but also periodical restructuring of
the whole sectoral system of innovation.
Aerospace manufacturing requires advanced technological capabilities at
the earliest stages of the emergence of the industry. Producers
immediately need to comply with high international technology, quality
and safety standards. Stage models of gradual technological upgrading in
the process of catch up are therefore not appropriate to analyse the
evolution of this industry in latecomer economies. The model of
interrupted innovation developed in this paper provides an alternative
perspective.
In country case studies of Brazil, China, Indonesia and Argentina, we
show how changes in the global competitive landscape and major political
developments trigger crises in the industry, with which existing systems
of innovation are unable to cope. Competitive pressures periodically
require the industry to reinvent itself almost from scratch.
We conclude that the emerging economies that have succeeded in catching
up in aerospace are those that have established a competitive industrial
sector with a sectoral innovation system which is able to adapt flexibly
to radically changing circumstances.
Keywords: aerospace manufacturing, sectoral innovation systems, system
dynamics, latecomer industrialization, technological capabilities
JEL Codes: L62, O14, O31, O32, O33, O38