Hughes, Lindsay P.; MA

                         SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY (CANADA);1999

                         SOCIOLOGY, THEORY AND METHODS (0344); BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, MANAGEMENT
 

                         This thesis describes an examination of the OECD <italic>Oslo Manual </italic> (1997), one of the
                         standard methodologies used by governments and policy makers to study the processes and practices
                         of innovation in private firms and commercial establishments. After an introductory discussion of the
                         reasons for studying the process of innovation, main questions of this research are defined. They are:
                         (1)&nbsp;Can a simple survey based on the <italic>Oslo Manual</italic> methodology provide useful
                         information about a system of innovation? (2)&nbsp;What are the characteristics of the British Columbia
                         system of innovation, as determined by this simple survey? (3)&nbsp;How effective is research based on
                         the <italic>Oslo Manual </italic> in characterising a system of innovation? (4)&nbsp;How effective is the
                         systems of innovation model in describing innovative activity in an economy? Two theories of innovation
                         are then examined. The first, diffusion of innovations, considers the communicative process by which
                         new technologies are adopted within a society, and is the traditional model for policy studies of
                         innovation. The second, systems of innovation, is a theoretical framework that draws on the evolutionary
                         economic theories of Josef Schumpeter. The systems of innovation model forms the theoretical basis of
                         the <italic>Oslo Manual</italic>, so its interpretation of the model is then discussed in some detail,
                         illustrated by a Statistics Canada survey based on the standard. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

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