The Diffusion of Management Innovations: The Possibilities and Limitations of Memetics
运用模因论解释管理创新如何像生物进化一样扩散，通过两个业务流程再造案例说明复制、选择和变异形成演化算法，并解释高失败率为何有时反而促进创新复制。
abstract This paper applies a theory of memetics to help explain the diffusion of management innovations as a dynamic evolutionary process. Existing analyses of diffusion frequently note the variation, selection or replication of management innovations, yet few have linked these together with the common observation that some innovations seem to ‘evolve’. This paper draws on qualitative evidence from two case‐studies of BPR implementation to illustrate that the replication, selection and variation of management innovations can form evolutionary algorithms (‘memes’) which support diffusion processes, and, in doing so, clarifies the ways in which innovations contribute to their own replication and explains how the high ‘failure’ rates associated with BPR can sometimes improve its chances of reproduction.