Abhatoo - Centre Nationale de Documentation

This paper advances a framework geared for the analysis of innovationand design. We combine research from economics, where goods and serviceshave been described as sets of characteristics (e.g., Gallouj &Weinstein, 1997), with studies from the philosophy of technology and designon the dual nature of technical systems (e.g., Kroes, 2002). We positthat goods and services are technical systems that have a structural and afunctional dimension, which are subjective to the individuals involved intheir design, production, and use. We also propose a modelling approachfor goods and services in terms of patterns that bridge between thesestructural and functional dimensions.