How Transformative Innovations Shaped the Rise of Nations: From Ancient Rome to Modern America - Hardcover

Tellis, Gerard; Rosenzweig, Stav

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1783087323 ISBN 13: 9781783087327

Verlag: Anthem Press, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

Over the last 2,000 years, critical innovations have transformed small regions into global powers. But these powers have faded when they did not embrace the next big innovation. Gerard J. Tellis and Stav Rosenzweig argue that openness to new ideas and people, empowerment of individuals and competition are key drivers in the development and adoption of transformative innovations. These innovations, in turn, fuel economic growth, national dominance and global leadership. In How Transformative Innovations Shaped the Rise of Nations, Tellis and Rosenzweig examine the transformative qualities of concrete in Rome; swift equine warfare in Mongolia; critical navigational innovations in the golden ages of Chinese, Venetian, Portuguese and Dutch empires; the patent system and steam engine in Britain; and mass production in the United States of America.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Gerard J. Tellis is professor, Neely Chair of American Enterprise and director of the Center for Global Innovation at the Marshall School of Business, University of South California, USA. He is an expert in innovation, advertising, social media, new product growth and global market entry. Associate editor of the Journal of Marketing Research, Tellis is the author of 6 books and over 100 articles (http://www.gtellis.net) and has won more than 20,000 citations and 20 awards for his publications.

Stav Rosenzweig is assistant professor of marketing and business strategy at the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. An expert in innovation management and knowledge creation, Rosenzweig's research focuses on the interrelations of innovation, knowledge and public policy in business strategy and consumer behavior.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

How Transformative Innovations Shaped the Rise of Nations

From Ancient Rome to Modern America

By Gerard J. Tellis, Stav Rosenzweig

Wimbledon Publishing Company

Copyright © 2018 Gerard J. Tellis and Stav Rosenzweig
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-78308-732-7

Contents

List of Illustrations, ix, 
Acknowledgments, xi, 
1 Global Influence of Transformative Innovation, 1, 
2 Roman Concrete: Foundations of an Empire, 37, 
3 Swift Equine Warfare and the Rise of Mongol Power, 67, 
4 How Gunpowder Shaped the Fortunes of Nations, 89, 
5 Golden Age of Chinese Water Navigation, 115, 
6 Venetian Shipbuilding: Mastering the Mediterranean, 127, 
7 Portuguese Caravel: Building an Oceanic Empire, 143, 
8 The Fluyt and the Building of the Dutch Empire, 157, 
9 Patenting: Institutionalizing Innovation, 177, 
10 The Steam Engine and the Rise of the British Empire, 193, 
11 American Mass Production and the Rise of the United States, 213, 
12 Lessons, 257, 
Notes, 267, 
Index, 301, 

CHAPTER 1

Global Influence of Transformative Innovation

In the three centuries BCE, several states flourished around the Mediterranean: Athens, Macedonia, Egypt, Carthage, Phoenicia and Rome. Yet only one of them, Rome, was able to create and efficiently manage a vast empire, for over 300 years, eventually extending from England to Persia and surrounding the whole Mediterranean (see Chapter 2). What caused Rome to become such a vast, encompassing and stable empire for so many centuries?

In the thirteenth century, a self-made leader from Mongolia, Genghis Khan, united disparate tribes and built an empire that stretched from Eastern China across Asia to Russia, Hungary and the Eastern Mediterranean (see Chapter 3). How did people from a relatively poor and technologically backward country of Mongolia come to overpower and rule so many rich, established kingdoms all over Asia and Eastern Europe?

In the early fifteenth century, China was the world's greatest navigational power. At its peak, its navy, under Admiral Zheng He, had over 300 ships, which were up to 400 feet long, with a crew of 37,000. It made multiple expeditions to the Far East, India, Middle East and Africa (see Chapter 4). Yet, when still at its peak, China abruptly stopped these expeditions, closed in on itself and fell behind. Many nations surpassed China as navigational powers. What caused China to fall behind these other nations?

In the fifteenth century, the city-state of Venice amassed great wealth and became the dominant power in the Mediterranean and probably the richest political entity in Europe. It monopolized trade between Europe and the East, especially the spice trade. In contrast, Portugal was a small, relatively backward country. Yet by the end of the fifteenth century, Portugal, and not Venice, discovered the sea route to India and the East that triggered the rise of the Portuguese empire and the eclipse of Venice as a naval and trading power (see Chapter 6). What led to the rise of Venice and subsequently that of Portugal?

In the seventeenth century, the relatively poor lowlands that now constitute the Netherlands united to form a great empire that at its peak controlled territories in the Americas, Africa, South Asia and East Asia (see Chapter 8). What led to the rise of the Netherlands?

In the sixteenth century, the lands that now constitute Germany were four times the size of England in terms of gross domestic product (GDP). Germany was ahead of England on most metrics of economic activity. It enjoyed a larger land mass, more forests, more arable land and more minerals (especially coal and iron) than England. Yet, by 1820, England's GDP was one and a half times as large as Germany's (see Chapter 10). What caused England to speed ahead of Germany?

In the early nineteenth century, Brazil, Mexico and the United States were similar nations with abundant resources and sparse populations. In 1800, the per capita GDP of the United States was about the same as that of Brazil and only twice that of Mexico. By 1913, the per capita GDP of the United States grew to be about four times that of Mexico and about six times that of Brazil. The United States had become a far bigger economy than either Brazil or Mexico and a major world power. By 1900, it even surpassed England in GDP (see Chapter 11). What caused this dramatic divergence in the economies of the United States, Brazil and Mexico?

The above cases show that economic and global leadership in the world has shifted from nation to nation. No one country has persistently led the world in terms of innovation, wealth and power. It is fascinating to see how just in the last 500 years, leadership in these areas has swung from Mongolia to China to Venice to Portugal to the Netherlands to England and to the United States. The Ottomans from Turkey and the Mughals in India also became dominant powers in between. Yet, no nation held sway permanently. Why did this constant change in global leadership occur?

Scholars in various disciplines have provided numerous explanations for the rise of great nations, as in the cases above. These explanations include advantageous geography, natural resources, climate, religion (especially Christianity), Western culture, colonization or luck. Many of these explanations have been deep, scholarly studies of one or some of the above cases. However, a robust explanation is one that can cover all the above cases, preferably with a single explanation. Most of the prior explanations, while good for one or a couple of cases, fail when applied to all of the above diverse cases, as we discuss later in this chapter. In particular, the rise of economic and world powers in the above cases occurred over time, often when geography, climate and natural resources remained essentially the same. So, these three factors cannot be a sole or primary explanation. Also, across the above cases, religion and culture varied substantially. Indeed, the rise of Rome, the Mongols, China and the Ottomans occurred without the aid of Christianity. Moreover, among Christian states, some rose and fell, while others stagnated. Some were Catholic (Portugal and Venice), while others were Protestant (the Netherlands and England). Thus, neither Protestantism nor Christianity can be the primary explanation for the cross-country rise of nations. So what factors explain the rise of the nations listed above? Are these factors similar across these diverse cases?

The first thesis of this book is that economic growth, national dominance and global leadership are fueled primarily by the embrace of innovation. In particular, the rise of nations in the cases above was probably due to the embrace of what we call transformative innovations. However, other prior, parallel or supporting innovations were also adopted in an environment that was conducive to innovation. A transformative innovation is a product or process that uses a completely new technology as opposed to existing products and processes, provides users with substantially superior benefits over existing products and processes, and provides adopting nations with a substantially superior edge in relative wealth or power compared to non-adopting nations. By this definition, transformative innovations are relative to the time and region in which they emerge. Once they are widely adopted and become pervasive, they are no longer innovative.

The adoption of a transformative innovation spawns numerous other related or consequent innovations. It provides a competitive advantage to a...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Anthem Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1783087323
• ISBN 13: 9781783087327
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 332
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland