ABSTRACT
My purpose in this chapter is not to survey scholarly claims about the origins, causes and consequences of innovation, the relation between innovation and the accumulation of knowledge, or the nature of management of the innovation process. Rather it is a statement of different viewpoints concerning the relation between innovation, the growth of knowledge, an evolutionary theory of economic and social change and our understanding of strategic management. The common ground of all these relations is the heterogeneity of the behaviour of individuals and organisations and the origins of this diversity in the heterogeneity of knowledge (Nelson and Winter 1984; Witt 1993; Nelson 1991). The issues addressed are particularly relevant to the theory of the firm and its capacity to acquire and articulate knowledge.
