Where does ferment collide?

The set of anaerobic chemical reactions by which microbes break down sugars into acids, gases, or alcohol to release energy without using oxygen. Pasteur's 1857 Mémoire sur la fermentation appelée lactique established that this breakdown is the work of living microbes rather than a purely chemical decay, and his later studies extended the finding to alcoholic fermentation. Buchner's 1897 Alkoholische Gährung ohne Hefezellen then showed that a cell-free extract could ferment sugar on its own, locating the action in soluble catalysts, later called enzymes, rather than in the whole cell. The referent here is a metabolic process running inside cells or their extracts, tracked by the compounds it consumes and produces, and it is not a turbulent period in an industry.[1][2]

Unit

One fermentation reaction in a cell or extract, by substrate consumed and products formed

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Quantified by yields of alcohol, acids, or gas, by change in pH, and by rates of substrate uptake

The turbulent period that opens after a technological discontinuity, when many rival designs compete and no single dominant design has yet settled. Anderson and Tushman's 1990 Technological discontinuities and dominant designs named this the era of ferment, the stretch of design competition and substitution that follows a breakthrough and precedes convergence on a standard, building on the discontinuity model they set out in 1986. In this meaning ferment describes a phase of an industry or a technology, marked by variation, uncertainty, and contested standards. The referent is a state of a market and its firms over time, and it is not a chemical reaction carried out by microbes.[3][4]

Unit

One era of ferment for a technology, from a discontinuity to the emergence of a dominant design

Recovery means

Closes when the industry converges on a dominant design and a more stable era begins

Measured by

Assessed by the count of competing designs, entry and exit of firms, and time until a dominant design appears