L04 A: Lee, J., & Berente, N. (2013). The era of incremental change in the technology innovation life cycle

Question 1

What did the authors discover about the period of incremental change (technology life cycle)

Answer 1

(1) overall product innovation in the industry did not
decline immediately following the dominant design

(2) overall product innovation increased throughout the era of incremental change

(3) firms maintain their attention on the same core components that they innovated upon before the dominant design, but that these components make up less of the overall proportion of total innovation throughout the era of incremental change.

(4) finally, they found that the concentration of innovating firms in the industry increases immediately following the dominant design,
and this concentration decreases over time throughout the era of incremental change.

Question 1

(4) finally, they found that the concentration of innovating firms in the industry increases immediately following the dominant design,
and this concentration decreases over time throughout the era of incremental change.

Expain how this might have happened

Answer 1

Concentration of innovating firms in industry higher immediately following emergence of dominant design because of industry shake-out: winners in innovation battle remain and losers depart industry.

Over time, due to stabilization and resulting certainty associated with product architecture, this concentration diminishes as new entrants make increasing impact on product.