Laggards may be discouraged from investing in R&D, since they lose the hope of competing with the top performers; leaders may divert resources from innovation to unproductive uses, such as defensive strategies for maintaining their rent. Under the right conditions, diffusion can mitigate such effects.
•  One key element for the diffusion of innovations is the availability of adequate human capital, especially in view of the markedly knowledge-intensive nature of the current innovation process. A highly skilled and well-trained workforce is not just a productivity driver per se.