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The Adoption and Enforcement of a Technological Regime: The Case of the first IT Regime

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  • Werner Hölzl

    (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics & B.A.)

  • Andreas Reinstaller

    (MERIT, Maastricht University)

Abstract

In this paper we explore the process of adoption and enforcement of a number of new information processing technologies, such as the typewriter, calculators, tabulation gears and book-keeping machines, starting from the 1880s in the United States. We show that their innovation and diffusion was inexorably coupled to the economic development in the USA in the late 19th century. It is a complex and contradictory consequence of underlying socio-economic processes that led to the formation of modern organisational structures in large scale manufacturing which required systematic and efficient information processing. The typewriter and all the complementary office automation devices that entered the scene shortly after were part of a socio-technical regime that started being established: the office work regime or as we prefer to call it the first IT regime, as for the first time a technology was set up to process information on large scale. The logic of large scale manufacturing to produce standardised products in large series and to apply labour saving techniques was cast into the organisation of administration. This required a convergence of technical practices. The lock-in to the inferior QWERTY-keyboard is hence the outcome of the diffusion and hardening of the First IT Regime.

Suggested Citation

  • Werner Hölzl & Andreas Reinstaller, 2000. "The Adoption and Enforcement of a Technological Regime: The Case of the first IT Regime," Working Papers geewp12, Vienna University of Economics and Business Research Group: Growth and Employment in Europe: Sustainability and Competitiveness.
    • Handle: RePEc:wiw:wiwgee:geewp12
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Andreas Reinstaller & Werner Hölzl, 2004. "Complementarity constraints and induced innovation: some evidence from the first IT regime," Chapters, in: John Foster & Werner Hölzl (ed.), Applied Evolutionary Economics and Complex Systems, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Hölzl, Werner & Reinstaller, Andreas, 2003. "The Babbage principle after evolutionary economics," Research Memorandum 016, Maastricht University, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Technological regimes; adaption and enforcement of technologies; information technology; QWERTY;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure
    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • N8 - Economic History - - Micro-Business History
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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