Nuanced role of relevant prior experience: Sales takeoff of disruptive products and product innovation with disrupted technology in industrial robotics

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2017

Abstract

We investigate product innovation by a cohort of entrants who use technology that eventually suffers disruption. We concentrate on two types of entrants - those with and those without relevant prior experience in the disrupted technology. Using the industrial robotics industry as the context of our study, we explore product innovation using disrupted technology during two time periods: the first prior to sales takeoff of the disruptive products and the second subsequent to takeoff. We find that the two types of entrants did not differ in product innovation prior to takeoff, but firms with prior experience in the disrupted technology manufactured more innovative products subsequent to the sales takeoff of disruptive products. Our research underscores that the boundary conditions of the utility of prior experience is more nuanced than that which literature suggests - it affects product innovation only in the post-sales takeoff period when the demand uncertainties are relatively low. Our findings also suggest that the boundary conditions of Christensen's thesis are narrower than predicted by prior literature.

Identifier

85029582566 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Advances in Strategic Management

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1108/S0742-332220170000037004

ISSN

07423322

First Page

81

Last Page

111

Volume

37

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