• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.89-125
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• 2017

Complex product systems (CoPs) is a engineering-intensive products with high-ended design technology, which are closely linked with national economic growth and development of social infrastructures. Accordingly, in order to understand the technological evolution of CoPs, it is necessary to identify the macro-environmental drivers surrounding the CoPs and their impact on the technological evolution of the CoPS. Therefore, we investigate the effect of policy, economic and social drivers on the technological evolution of CoPS by implementing the longitudinal case study on nuclear power plant during the periods between 1950 and 2010s. Based on the analysis of various sources of secondary data and primary data through interviews, we found that the technological evolution of nuclear power plant is progressed as "Phase 1: Application research for peaceful utilization of nuclear energy" between 1950s and 1960s, "Phase 2: The first renaissance of nuclear energy" during 1970s, "Phase 3: Enhancement of safety and the catch-up of latecomers in nuclear energy" between 1990s and 2000s, and "Phase 4: Top prioritization of safety and the development of next generation reactors for the second renaissance of nuclear energy" since 2010s. We also found that various kinds of policy, economic and social drivers, such as energy policy, investment in technology development, economic growth and energy demand, social acceptability and environmental concern, have affected the technology evolution of nuclear power plant at each phase. We emphasize the role of macroenvironmental drivers in the technological evolution of CoPS. We also suggest that countries that endeavor to develop CoPs need to utilize those drivers for enhancing competitiveness and sustaining leadership.