The Process of an Innovation Cycle 



This and the following chapter put forward theoretical frame- 

 works for the analysis of two aspects of the processes of research 

 and dissemination of information. These frameworks do not pre- 

 sent a comprehensive theory of the production of knowledge and 

 its distribution, nor do they review existing familiar theory or 

 literature. Our objective in these chapters is to show, by examples, 

 that these areas can be subject to rigorous modeling, and to try to 

 open up new avenues for research in these fields. 



Introduction 



Basically, the decision to adopt an innovation is an economic deci- 

 sion and in determining patterns of adoption of innovations, com- 

 parative advantages— dynamic as well as static— will be crucial. This 

 has been recognized in empirical work (Griliches 1957, Mansfield 

 1961, and Nelson 1968) where measures of benefits, costs, profits, 

 and scale were incorporated into the analysis as explanatory vari- 

 ables. The most explicit recognition of the function of comparative 

 advantages in the adoption of innovations is found in the theory of 

 the "product cycle" in international trade as expounded by Vernon 

 (1966) and Hufbauer (1968), a theory for which no formal mathe- 

 matical specification has yet been suggested. The present study is an 

 analysis of a similar process within one industry. A formal model 

 describing an "innovation cycle" is developed in the first part of the 

 chapter, and illustrated by the techniques used in growing winter 

 vegetables in Israel in the second. 



The model concentrates on the main aspects of the analysis and 

 is based on simplifying assumptions. It is assumed that the in- 

 novation is either a new product or a new method that apprecia- 



This chapter draws on Kislev and Shchori-Bachrach (1973) 



120 



