Doctoral Dissertation: The Tactics of Innovation: How Engineers Produce Proprietary Knowledge, the Case of Antilock Braking Systems

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This Ph.D dissertation concerns engineering design practices and the process of invention in large organizations. Research is focused on the research, development, and engineering of antilock braking systems for passenger automobiles between 1953 and 1978. The investigation centers on research and development conducted in the United States, Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Sweden. The international focus is designed to highlight the construction of a community of practitioners who spanned national as well as company lines. Standard practices emerged within this community. The main sources are several hundred published articles from professional journals and conference proceedings. Of equal significance are several dozen interviews with participants. The most important companies were located in Germany - Teldix, Robert Bosch, Alfred Teves, Mercedes Benz, and BMW. Outside of Germany - Lucas Industries of England, Kelsey-Hayes and Bendix in the U.S., and research institutes at U/Michigan, Penn State, Technical University at Braunschweig, and the Motor Industries Research Association and the Road Research Laboratory in England, and the Staten vag-och trafikinstitut in Sweden. Support will provide travel expenses to conduct research in Germany, England, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, and Washington, D.C.