In Chapter 2 we saw that the most economical locations for transactions in a task network are the so-called thin crossing points—places where transfers are easy to define, count and pay for. However, in many places in the task network, transfers of material, energy, and information are so...

Functional analysis as set forth in the last chapter decomposes a technical system into functional components that do things to advance the system’s purpose and the goals of its designers. Functional analysis in turn can be used to construct value structure maps of technical systems. Such maps...

This is the first chapter in Part 3. Its purpose is to contrast the value structure of platform systems with step processes from a technological perspective. I first review the basic technical architecture of computers and argue that every computer is inherently a platform for performing...

The IBM PC was the first digital computer platform that was open by as a matter of strategy, not necessity. The purpose of this chapter is to understand the IBM PC as a technical system and set of organization choices in light of the theory of how technology shapes organizations. In Chapter 7, I...

The benefits to data analytics and machine learning have been distributed unevenly across firms around the world. Research on IT productivity points to intangible capital as a crucial driver of value creation from innovation in computing. We argue that an important component of intangible...

The field of advanced materials (AM) is expected to experience considerable growth and has the potential to make a substantial impact on numerous industries, markets and applications. Much like IT and biotech before it, advanced materials face the many commercialization challenges of...

Whether entrepreneurial firms discover or create opportunities is a classic debate, here explored in the context of disruptive innovations. In this paper we reframe the question to focus not on the nature of entrepreneurial opportunity but on how and for whom entrepreneurs undertake disruptive...