When innovations meet chaos: Analyzing the technology development of printers in 1976-2012

This paper applies chaos theory to innovation processes, highlighting nonlinear behavior and temporal dynamics in the process of replacing old and established technologies with the newly created ones. We employed the local Lyapunov exponent (LLE) to develop our model of analysis and define the edge of chaos. To illustrate our ideas, we analyzed the development of printers during the 1976-2012 period using patent application data. The results of the chaotic model were further enriched with a real-world industry review. We discuss the implications for research on chaotic dynamics of change, evolutionary processes of innovation, and managerial practices.