Question: innovation in technology is a tremendous source of bargaining power? 

Answer: Innovation in technology, creativity, new solutions might be powerful for many companies, specially these days. We introduce an article "The key to progress" by G. Haesen, F. Fernández, J-C. Venchiarutti.\n\n"In traditional industries many processes could be made more efficient and less environmentally harmful, but resistance to change often leaves new ideas on the shelf. Sharing knowledge and experience of new techniques is critical to their acceptance, as the case of the printing industry –\nwhere the Subsprint project has helped introduce new methods for cleaning presses – shows.(...)Estimates indicate that offset printers in the European Union use around 100 million litres of organic solvents per year to clean their presses. According to experimental evidence, somewhere between 60\nand 90% of these petroleum-based solvents evaporate into the atmosphere, making the printing industry Europe’s second biggest industrial emitter of\nvolatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs in the atmosphere contribute to the thinning of the ozone layer and create smog at ground level; they can also be\ndamaging in soil or water. Print workers inhale organic solvents throughout their work, with the highest exposure levels experienced while cleaning presses. VOCs are known to have harmful effects on lungs, kidneys, liver and skin, and may also affect the nervous system. Replacing the traditional organic solvents with vegetable-oil-based cleaning products\n– which are generally biodegradable\n– would not only reduce environmental\ndegradation but would also have significant benefits for the health of print workers. Subsprint was one of the first technology transfer projects supported by the EU, launched in 1993, and it aimed to encourage the substitution of organic solvents in the printing industry with vegetable cleaning agents (VCAs).(...)With the accompanying measures launched within the Fifth Research\nFramework Programme, we aimed to set up a pilot platform to support the sharing of knowledge. It became clear immediately that the diverse backgrounds\nof team members and the different business sectors involved made it necessary to define a common language during the design of the platform. Such a common language should streamline the knowledge transfer process by facilitating\ncommunication, and by uncovering similarities and differences which may be\nleveraged in the sharing process. This process has substantially succeeded,\nalthough the partners had to overcome significant obstacles before they came to acknowledge fully the importance of trust in the knowledge transfer process. Today, more than ever, firms rely on information and knowledge exchange to facilitate the uptake of new technologies, processes and approaches. Haesen believes that companies aiming for success in the knowledge-based economy must become learning organisations, focused on efficiently acquiring knowledge from sources such as research – on both technical and non-technical sources – consultants, strategic partnerships with other companies, and the knowledge of their own employees. Protecting investments through patents is a short-term solution, but sharing knowledge is an essential step for organisations to become competitive."
This question from the Yahoo Q&A forum is categorized in the topic: Science & Mathematics