Technological Innovation and Performance Pressures in Europe and Japan

Abstract

This paper seeks to explain differences in the rate and character of technological innovation among European countries-particularly Britain and Germany-and between them and Japan. The general hypothesis is that the nature of the external and internal relationships of firms affects the performance pressures upon managers at the various levels in the frm ; that these in turn affect their objectives ; and that their objectives affect the rate and character of technological change in the frm. The empirical discussion shows how performance pressures have responded to changes in the social and economic environment of the countries concerned, since 1945, and how they may be expected to develop by the end of the century. The differences found account well for the very different pattern of revealed technological advantage in Britain and Japan. In most respects Germany is found to be intermediate between Japan and Britain, and to have an intermediate outcome in terms of technological advantage.