L'hypofirme, vivier et creuset de l'innovation hypermoderne

Abstract

Innovation lies at the heart of modernity. During the first (proto) modernity, it was the fact of "ingenious" persons, in the second (post) one, of "engineers". Hyperfirms manage and plan innovation and thus deter the development of radical innovations. The third modernity is a rupture in the vision of innovation. It is now the fact of very small businesses, the socalled "hypofirms", willing to remain small, by the way of a "singular" (unique) strategy, based on an idiosyncratic resource-competence approach, on a well defined market and on a strong relational network. © De Boeck Université.