Giorgio Armani arrives in Sydney today. Greeting him will be his pals, Cate and Russell. The link or hub for them is the business institution of Hollywood.

Giorgio, Cate and Russell have each used the Hollywood business model, a combination of talent, fame, distribution networks and familiar messages. Another simplification is that Hollywood is a fame factory and fame is an easily understood business model. Andy Warhol traded fame in art, Giorgio trades fashion with fame.

Giorgio designs clothes, they sell better if worn by current Hollywood idols, such as Cate Blanchett and Russell Crowe. More than any other fashion designer, Armani is diffused by Hollywood and the Oscars, as Harper's notes here. The legal monopoly held by the Armani empire, net worth US$4.1 billion according to Forbes, is based on trade mark law. It has 62 separate trade mark registrations in Australia alone.

In Sydney Giorgio will help cross-promote and provide financial support for Cate's involvement with the Sydney Theatre Company. 

When he meets up with Russell, they'll say hello to Russell's team - the Rabbitohs, the South Sydney Rugby League Team. They too now wear Armani.

Fame begets fame. Sometimes it arrives very quickly. In comparison it is usually slower going with technology diffusion (see Footnote 1). With technology diffusion it can take years, decades or centuries before the implications of a technology are fully realised. It took the ipod years, the internet decades, and electricity centuries. This time delay is a reality we recognise as intellectual property lawyers specialising in commercialisation projects.

Can the Hollywood business model help to commercialise or diffuse technology? Yes, there's lots of evidence and examples. It is the commercial justification for product placement in movies and television programs (see Footnote 2).

The question brings us to a marvellous case study. It is the story of the duduk. Measured against its 1,500 to 3,000 years of use in the Caucasus, Anatolia and the Armenian diaspora, the duduk has become an overnight success because the Hollywood business model has diffused it globally. 

The duduk (pictured right) is an ancient Armenian musical instrument. It is a double reed instrument. The closest to it in sound is perhaps the oboe.

It is undeniable that a musical instrument is a type of technology. There are lots of books which trace the diffusion of musical instruments across the globe, including the piano or guitar and of course the use of these and other western instruments by Africans in America to invent Jazz.

How has technology diffusion and globalisation taken place for the duduk? Listen to this radio documentary, it is a superb 9 minute radio program on the duduk. It's on DailyMotion, a video website. Listen to it as a study in how the Hollywood business model can help in technology diffusion. Keep in mind that the biggest diaspora community of Armenians lives in Los Angeles (there are about 500,000 Armenians in LA), and the very "suburb" of Hollywood has for decades been Little Armenia.

Major movies have featured the duduk in their soundtrack, perhaps firstly Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). It was followed by The Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), The Hulk, The Siege, Ararat, Dead Man Walking, The Passion of the Christ, Syriana, Alexander, The Crow, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven etc etc. Fame begets fame, especially in Hollywood, and including for technology.  

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Graphic: Shot Blue Marilyn (1964) by Andy Warhol 

Footnote 1: Technology diffusion defined

• Technology diffusion is a subject within the larger field within engineering or management, known as technology management. Companies which live off technology development require diffusion of their technology. An obstacle is that: "A new technology defuses into use for several reasons, and the rate of diffusion varies.  Accordingly the rate at which a new market grows depends on many factors." This is one of key principles in Frederick Betz's great book, Strategic Technology Management (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1994).
• Diffusion is also needed for earnings by developers of information technology and Web 2.0 companies. As stated in the 1994 article, IP strategy and the rise and rise of Bill Gates [PDF], IT companies must adopt a "three part strategy of creation, diffusion and licensing" following the "Silicon Valley business model" involving "relationships with customers and alliances between competitors."
  
• We've written a lot about technology management and diffusion, see for example: 
• Your future is already here
  
• The direction of IT is towards theatre and conversation
• DVRs and video on demand in Australia
• Music formats and law: commercialisation of 45-rpm records
• Made in Australia
• Book Review: "Are we our own worst enemy?"
• The benefits of free and open source software
  

Footnote 2: Statistics on product placement in Australia

"Last year US research company PQ Media estimated that Australian companies spent A$137.8 million placing products and brands in TV programs and films in 2005, up 25.4% from A$110 in 2004. Australia is the third-biggest product placement market in the world." Source: Julian Lee, "Vegemite rehearses for Hollywood debut", The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 June 2007, p. 27.