ABSTRACT
Evolutionary approaches seem rather useful in the analysis of the development of firms on the individual level. This chapter focuses on the adoption of technical textiles and the process of tufting. It pays attention to the changing level of innovation over time, as apparent from an output indicator. New product technology is the single most important basis for competition in the innovative pharmaceutical industry. The chapter explores firm failure based on a concise survey of empirical studies. Most studies are concerned with start-up firms, but some with mature firms. This part is followed by a discussion of case study evidence. An interesting research avenue would be to compare path dependency of firms in the same sector and technology but located in different regions. The chapter concludes with some speculative thoughts on such conditions with a particular emphasis on information flows from an organizational (institutional) perspective.
