The Influence of Prior Industry Affiliation on Framing in Nascent Industries: The Evolution of Digital Cameras
Strategic Management Journal, Forthcoming
Posted: 29 Jan 2011
There are 2 versions of this paper
The Influence of Prior Industry Affiliation on Framing in Nascent Industries: The Evolution of Digital Cameras
Date Written: November 17, 2010
Abstract
New industries sparked by technological change are characterized by high uncertainty. In this paper we explore how a firm's conceptualization of products in this context, as reflected by product feature choices, is influenced by prior industry affiliation. We study digital cameras introduced from 1991-2006 by firms from three prior industries. We hypothesize and find first, that prior industry experience shapes a set of shared beliefs resulting in similar and concurrent firm behavior, second, that firms notice and imitate the behaviors of firms from the same prior industry, and third, that as firms gain experience with particular features, the influence of prior industry decreases. This study extends previous research on firm entry into new domains by examining heterogeneity in firms' framing and feature-level entry choices.
Keywords: Technological Change, Innovation, Industry Evolution, Dominant Designs, Managerial Beliefs, Digital Photography
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation