IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/buhirw/v93y2019i02p247-273_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Designing for Innovation: Cooperation and Competition in English Cotton, Silk, and Pottery Firms, 1750–1860

Author

Listed:
  • Casson, Catherine
  • Dodgson, Mark

Abstract

The ability to combine technological innovation with innovation in product design has been recognized by business historians as an important characteristic of a successful business. This article examines the use of product design as a source of competitive advantage by leading firms in the Manchester cotton, Macclesfield silk, and Staffordshire pottery sectors in the period 1750–1860. Four design strategies are identified: copying (direct imitation and adaptation), commissioning, capacity building, and collaboration. Distinction is made between proactive firms, which innovated whenever there was an opportunity, and reactive firms, which innovated only when necessary.

Suggested Citation

  • Casson, Catherine & Dodgson, Mark, 2019. "Designing for Innovation: Cooperation and Competition in English Cotton, Silk, and Pottery Firms, 1750–1860," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 93(2), pages 247-273, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:buhirw:v:93:y:2019:i:02:p:247-273_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0007680519000643/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:buhirw:v:93:y:2019:i:02:p:247-273_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/bhr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.