The means of managing momentum: Bridging technological paths and organisational fields

This paper examines how technological and organisational changes are mediated through different means of mutually monitoring and collectively coordinating technological developments in the field of semiconductor manufacturing. As collective practices, both monitoring and coordinating aim at generating momentum in order to stabilise or redirect technological paths in organisational fields. The empirical analysis of innovation practices in the field of semiconductor manufacturing technology shows that the means of managing momentum, above all roadmaps, conferences, and R&D consortia, influence and transform the development of new technologies as well as the social relations within the organisational field. The transformative capacity of these means is elaborated conceptually using Giddens' theory of structuration.