Quantitative case histories of urban innovations: Are there innovating stages?

A widely accepted “phase theorem” in the literature on organizational decision-making and innovation asserts that these processes occur in a series of sequential stages. The theorem was tested in a study on adoption of three types of urban innovations, in which 2000 episodes in the innovating process were scored on type of innovating function (or stage) and time of occurence. For three pre-implementation functions of search, design, and appraisal, the data confirmed a previous finding that these functions largely coincided in time. From a broader perspective of the total innovating process, however, clear separation appeared between the first function of concern and later functions of implementation and diffusion. The data supported a “demand pull” rather than a “technology push” account of organizational innovating. In answer to the title question — are there innovating stages? — this paper suggests that for simple innovations that are borrowed with little change, the succession of stages will be moderately clear. But for organizational innovations that are originated or highly adapted, or those that are complex or uncertain, the staging sequence will appear overlapping and disorderly.