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    Risk-Mitigating Technologies: The Case of Radiation Diagnostic Devices
    02 Jul 2019Working Paper Summaries

    Risk-Mitigating Technologies: The Case of Radiation Diagnostic Devices

    by Alberto Galasso and Hong Luo
    Changes in risk perception, driven by extensive media coverage of accidents, for example, can be an important driver of innovation and shape the direction of technological progress. Large firms may play an important role in the development and commercialization of risk-mitigating technologies, with important implications for the dynamics of competitive advantage and market structure.
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    Author Abstract

    We study the impact of consumers’ risk perception on firm innovation. Our analysis exploits a major surge in the perceived risk of radiation diagnostic devices, following extensive media coverage of a set of over-radiation accidents involving CT scanners in late 2009. Difference-in-differences regressions using data on patents and FDA product clearances show that the increased perception of radiation risk spurred the development of new technologies that mitigated such risk and led to a greater number of new products. We provide qualitative evidence and describe patterns of equipment usage and upgrade that are consistent with this mechanism. Our analysis suggests that changes in risk perception can be an important driver of innovation and shape the direction of technological progress.

    Paper Information

    • Full Working Paper Text
    • Working Paper Publication Date: April 2019
    • HBS Working Paper Number: HBS Working Paper #19-106
    • Faculty Unit(s): Strategy
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    Hong Luo
    Hong Luo
    James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Associate Professor of Business Administration
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