Xerography: A Study in Innovation and Economic Competitiveness

APR 01, 1994

When Chester Carlson invented a means of copying images using sulfur film and lycopodium powder in 1938, no one could have foreseen the advances in materials science and other developments that would turn his nascent technology into today’s burgeoning business.

DOI: 10.1063/1.881427

Joseph Mort

The general consensus is that the US in recent years has progressively lost competitive ground in a number of critical economic areas—this despite the fact that it has been the world’s leading scientific and technological power and has spent more on nondefense R&D than any other country. Evidently scientific and technological prowess do not guarantee economic competitiveness.

This article is only available in PDF format

References

1. J. Mort, The Anatomy of Xerography, McFarland, Jefferson, N. C. (1989).
2. P. W. Anderson, Phys. Rev. 109, 192 (1958). https://doi.org/PHRVAO
N. Mott, E. A. Davis, Electronic Processes in Non‐Crystalline Materials, Oxford U.P., Oxford, UK (1971).
3. W. E. Spear, Adv. Phys. 26, 811 (1977).https://doi.org/ADPHAH
4. F. Kodama, Harvard Bus. Rev. 70, 70 (1992).https://doi.org/HABRAX
5. J. Mort, J. Product Innovation Management 8, 32 (1991).
6. M. Koshiyama, Office Equipment and Products 18, A135 (1989).
7. R. R. Nelson, S. G. Winter, An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, Harvard U.P., Cambridge, Mass. (1992).
8. J. S. Metcalfe, in Technology and Economic Progress, A. Silbertson, ed., Macmillan, London (1989), p. 54.
9. G. Mensch, Stalemate in Technology, Ballinger, Cambridge, Mass. (1979).
10. J. Mort, Int. J. Technol. Management 9, 30 (1994).
11. E. Braun, S. MacDonald, Revolution in Miniature, Cambridge U.P., Cambridge, UK (1978).
12. B. Loabsy, Choice, Complexity and Ignorance, Cambridge U.P., Cambridge, UK (1976). ‘.
13. L. D. Tyson, Int. J. Technol. Managements, 5, 225 (1990).

More about the authors

Joseph Mort, Webster Research Center, Webster, New York.