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Innovation: Are You A Predator or Are You Prey?

James M. Utterback PhD '69: June 7, 2003; Running Time: 46:37

About the Lecture

About the Lecture

It seems a well-established truth that new technologies drive out older, established ones. In this lecture, MIT Sloan Professor James Utterback demonstrates just the opposite, that a symbiotic relationship can evolve between new “predator” and older “prey” industries that can sustain both. Using such vivid historical examples as the lightbulb, safety match and mousetrap, he describes how the original companies that created these products thrived even as they were challenged by newer firms that harnessed automated manufacturing or different distribution methods. Playing a remarkable film shot in 1927, Utterback shows how the transition from ice harvesting to mechanical refrigeration expanded the market for both – exemplifying the idea that new and old business ideas can and often do reinforce each other.

Lecture Details

Location: Wong Auditorium

“It’s important to look at new ideas as massive opportunities—not to think of them as substitutes…So abandon the idea that new technologies always wipe out old ones.”

James Utterback

About the Speaker

James M. Utterback PhD '69

Chair, MIT Management of Technology Program David J. McGrath Professor of Manaement and Innovation
MIT Sloan School of Management

James Utterback studies the process of technological innovation, and factors that influence innovation, including organizational behavior, corporate strategy and government policy. His book, Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation (Harvard Business School Press, 1996), focuses on how innovations enter an industry, how mainstream firms respond, and how new and old players wrestle for dominance over time. He received his B.S. and M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University and received his Ph.D. in Industrial Management from MIT.