Abstract
Master
thesis in Business Administration and Finance Management and Organization
Supervisor: Johan
Magnusson
Authors: Fredric
Travaglia
Title: Co-propagation in The Diffusion of Innovation -
Patterns amongst promissory organizations
Background and Problem: There are still many unexplored
questions around the relationships and interactions between the parties
involved in the software industry. The emergence and evolution of the industry
analyst firm and its impact on the market is one such issue. It is unclear to
which extent the industry analyst firms act in isolation, and to which extent
interaction, co-creation and co-propagation form the definitions of the
technological concepts.
Purpose: The
purpose of this thesis study is to contribute further to the current research
areas of patterns in diffusion of innovation and promissory organizations, by
analysing the industry analyst firms proprietary reports over time, through a
chosen technological concept.
Limitations: The
impact or relationships between customers, suppliers and the promissory
organizations is not analysed as part of the diffusion of innovation process.
The empirical material used is exclusively secondary data from three selected
industry analyst firms, limited to a specific timeframe and technological
concept for the analysis.
Method: The chosen approach for analysis is to combine
qualitative deductive content analysis and synthesising content analysis of the
proprietary reports from the industry analyst firms. The resulting data set is
quantitatively visualized, to allow for triangulation and to identify possible
patterns.
Conclusion: The industry analyst firm seems to be affected
by the communication and analysis provided for the technological concept by its
peer competitors as well as the market. The analysts, individually and as a
group, align towards a common definition, as well as towards a similar
categorization, of the technological concept.
Within
their group, the industry analysts show signs of imitation and translation in
the adoption pattern of new innovations, and follow the Rogers' 'Diffusion of
Innovation S-curve' when forming the categorizations of a technological
concept.
Suggestions for further research:
Investigation of industry analyst interaction by different methods such
as interviews and case studies, and application of methods used in this thesis
with focus on a different technological concept, is proposed for comparison.
Keywords:
diffusion of
innovation co-creation co-propagation industry analyst translation SaaS Cloud
IT Technology Gartner, Inc. Forrester Research, Radar Ecosystem Specialists.
Link to the complete thesis as published: Co-propagation in The Diffusion of Innovation - Patterns amongst promissory organizations
