Critically discuss Joseph Schumpeter’s view of the role of innovation in economic and social change

Economic development in his view has to be seen as a process of qualitative change, driven by innovation seen as new combination of existing resources, leading to new products, new methods of production, new sources of supply, exploitation of new markets and new ways to organise business. This combinatorial activity he labeled the 'entrepreneurial function’ against inertia and 'resistance to new ways’. Mark I (1912): entrepreneur as the engine of innovation, Mark II (1942): innovation needs large firms and R&D labs. There is no single, unified theory of innovation. There are partial explanations from various disciplines, including economics, political science, sociology, geography, organizational studies, psychology, business strategy. Innovation studies is a discipline which draws on all of these. The challenge for any theory of innovation is that it has to explain an empirical phenomenon that takes many guises. It has to encompass its complexity, dynamism, and uncertainty, often compounded by the way innovation results from the contribution of many parties with occasionally divergent and not fully established agendas. Innovation results from a collective process whose outcomes may not be known or expected when it begins.