Innovation approaches for old products revitalisation after technological change: the rise of technology reverse

Incumbent companies sometimes innovate and attempt to revitalise old technology-based

products, in decline after technological change, by improvements of their technical performance

and/or extensions of their lifetime into the market. The name of this innovation

approach is “sailing ship effect,” the acceleration of innovation in the old technology in

response to the threat from the new. However, in theory firms could achieve revitalisation

even by an alternative innovation approach based on the development of completely new

products. The article reports an illustrative case study: the innovation approach of some of

the main incumbent organisations in photography industry after the emergence of digital

cameras. In this case, incumbent companies developed and launched film scanners, new

technology-based products aimed at supporting users of old analog cameras after the rise

of digital imaging. The article contributes to the extant literature about innovation

approaches for old products’ revitalisation by analysing how established firms can achieve

this goal with completely new technological products. The approach of technology reverse

is proposed.