Incommensurate Technological Paradigms? Quarreling in the RFID Industry

Abstract

Dosi's work on technology paradigms and trajectories has emerged as an important idea in evolutionary approaches to the economics of innovation. This paper explores these ideas using one particular case history. I examine how two technology paradigms clashed in the RFID industry in the 2000-2002 period, a clash that manifested itself in a public quarrel that broke out between proponents of an incumbent paradigm and a challenger paradigm. These events present an excellent vantage point from which to observe a debate between two different technological perspectives within one industry in order to gain insights into the influence of technology paradigms.

Keywords: Technology paradigms, incommensurability, Dosi, RFID