ABSTRACT
Although Marx (1956)1 had arguably offered a sound explanation of how crises force firms to replace old modes of technology with new ones, it was not until Schumpeter (1942) that systematic efforts were made to distinguish creative destruction on a large scale compared to incremental changes that small entrepreneurs generate. Indeed, Schumpeter (1934) considered small entrepreneurs as capable of participating only in incremental engineering or minor innovation activities by adapting or appropriating existing stocks of knowledge. He did not anticipate the developments that have enabled small firms to engage in major innovations through linkages with universities and science and technology parks (Rasiah, 2015). Schumpeter (1942) had considered large firms that can internalize profound R&D activities as the ones that are capable of generating new stocks of knowledge. Both types of innovations result in creative destruction, except that the first is minor while the second is major.
