I have been reading a fascinating piece of academic work published in 2006 by Olavi Uusital of the Tempere Universtity of Technology in Finland and Kjell Grohaug at the Norwegian School of Business and Administration. In ‘Expectations and Consequences of International Partnership: The Case of Benecol’ they use the Hype Cycle to describe and measure the fortunes of the company that introduced Benecol (a fat spread substitute for margarine specifically designed positive heart and arterial health effects).
Here (with their kind permission) is a key chart from the paper:
Benecol Hype Cycle - Uusitalo, O and Grønhaug, K. (2006)
This is another example of using a stock price as a proxy indicator for ‘expectations’ – the variable on the Y axis of the Hype Cycle. This works because for the period tracked, the fortunes of the company originating the innovation (Raisio) were so closely linked to a single innovation.
It’s a nice piece of work that demonstrates well, how the Hype Cycle can be measured – at least aproximately – and how it can be applied to a technology innovation outside the domain of IT.
