What is Leapfrogging?
Leapfrogging describes a process of rapid change towards a higher degree of development of companies or other types of organization. It is the notion that areas of poor technological or economic development can be moved rapidly forward through the adoption of modern systems, without resorting to intermediate stages. The concept of leapfrogging emerged in the context of theories of economic growth and studies of industrial organization innovation, specifically with a focus on competition between firms. It is based on political economist Joseph Schumpeter's notion of "winds of creative destruction." The hypothesis proposes that monopolizing companies based on intrusive technologies generate less incentive to innovate than their potential competition, and that is why they eventually lose their role in technological leadership when new companies, willing to take risks, adopt new technological innovations.
Radical innovations become a new technological paradigm, with new companies make the leapfrog and become the new leaders.
