Where is Abernathy and Utterback Model?

Abstract

The Abernathy-Utterback model (A-U model) has significant impacts on innovation studies and is adopted by many scholars. Although many studies quote Abernathy and Utterback (1978), the dominant design idea was not explicitly shown in the model. Thus, the model used in Abernathy and Utterback (1978) differs from the A-U model imaged by us. The A-U models, adopted by many scholars, are actually formulated through the accumulation of the three critical works of Utterback and Abernathy (1975), Abernathy and Utterback (1978), and Abernathy (1978). The A-U models were finally completed by Abernathy (1978), becoming the A-U models that were imaged by us. However, Teece (1986) and Utterback (1994), who significantly popularized the A-U model, quoted the model in Abernathy and Utterback (1978) as a completed model. This was re-quoted, and the misconception that the A-U model was the same as the model in Abernathy and Utterback (1978) was disseminated. Abernathy and Utterback’s (1978) original paper is a strange compilation that independently introduces a diagram of the A-U model even before the title page. Moreover, there is neither an explanation nor a reference to the diagram in the paper. In fact, many researches quoting these works are unaware of this fact.

Keywords

• a-u model
• product innovation
• process innovation
• dominant design