A study of successful projects, unsuccessful projects, and projects in process in West Germany

Abstract

This study is concerned with eleven successful and eleven unsuccessful innovations as well as ten innovations in progress. The data were gathered by the author in West Germany in 1974-1975. The earlier findings on the effects of demand pull and technology push are augmented with this study, which offers further evidence that the high number of successful innovations start from demand pull, while the high number of unsuccessful projects start from technology push. The successful and unsuccessful projects are compared in level of effort and elapsed time, and the process versus product R&D decision is examined. Ten current projects are examined and the social forces are found to be diffuse. Two examples demonstrate the importance of the necessary integration between technology and the environment.