To lead or to follow: Translating innovative technologies as a result of industrial fashion

Abstract

As the technologies included in the concept of ‘Industry 4.0’ have been hailed as to be ushering in a fourth industrial revolution, corporations within the industrial sector strive to adopt innovative information technology (IT) systems in order to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage – or to avoid redundancy. In this article, we analyse how the idea of implementing an innovative technology managed to travel through time and space, from a German industrial exhibition to an educational department within a Swedish multinational corporation (MNC). Utilizing a framework based on Scandinavian institutionalism and actor network theory (ANT), we demonstrate how firms come to adopt technologies as a result of social networking processes and organizational fashion. Furthermore, we find that the successful implementation of an idea within a MNC involves active institutional entrepreneurship and careful navigation of the initial problematization phase. In doing so, we contribute to the literature of the translation of innovation and provide practical insight regarding how firms may approach innovation which spreads as a result of organizational fashion. Finally, we point out the importance of a successful knowledge management program for both successful and failed innovation projects.