Cm. Christensen et Rs. Rosenbloom, EXPLAINING THE ATTACKERS ADVANTAGE - TECHNOLOGICAL PARADIGMS, ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS, AND THE VALUE NETWORK, Research policy, 24(2), 1995, pp. 233-257
Understanding when entrants might have an advantage over an industry's
incumbent firms in developing and adopting new technologies is a ques
tion which several scholars have explained in terms of technological c
apabilities or organizational dynamics. This paper proposes that the v
alue network-the context within which a firm competes and solves custo
mers' problems-is an important factor affecting whether incumbent or e
ntrant firms will most successfully innovate. In a study of technology
development in the disk drive industry, the authors found that incumb
ents led the industry in developing and adopting new technologies of e
very sort identified by earlier scholars --at component and architectu
ral levels; competency-enhancing and competency-destroying; incrementa
l and radical-as long as the technology addressed customers' needs wit
hin the value network in which the incumbents competed. Entrants led i
n developing and adopting technologies which addressed user needs in d
ifferent, emerging value networks. It is in these innovations, which d
isrupted established trajectories of technological progress in establi
shed markets, that attackers proved to have an advantage. The rate of
improvement in product performance which technologists provide may exc
eed the rate of improvement demanded in established markets. This mism
atch between trajectories enables firms entering emerging value networ
ks subsequently to attack the industry's established markets as well.