Studies show a relationship between the speed of technology adoption and national wealth. Significant delays in initial technology adoption was calculated to account for a 25% reduction in GDP compared to that of the U.S. More significantly however are the cost of delays in pervasive adoption, which were calculated to account for a further 45% reduction in GDP. Taken together, the studies indicate that up to 70 % of differences in cross-country per capita income can be explained by delays in technology adoption. For new product development in the technology industry a delay of 10% was found to have a more significant impact on total revenue than 10% overrun in production cost. Management techniques that help innovation are therefore critical, but even more important is management for wide and rapid deployment of new technologies.
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Comin, Diego, and Bart Hobijn. 2012. How Early Adoption Has Increased Wealth—Until Now. Havrard Business Review Magazine, Mar 01, 2012.
Comin, Diego, and Martà Mestieri. 2010. The Intensive Margin of Technology Adoption In HBS Working Paper 11-026.
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