Technology strategy variables tend to predominate as predictors of survival
in the fast-changing rigid disk drive industry. Building on these previous
studies, we here test the hypothesis that the technological and market str
ategies of a new entrant are highly interrelated and that their joint effec
t plays an important role in a firm's probability of survival. In particula
r, we propose that firms that target new market segments with an architectu
ral innovation will tend to be more successful than those that target exist
ing markets or innovate in component technology, even after controlling for
all the competing predictors of survival.
This paper advances the existing literature on innovation by tracing the ma
in technical elements of a dominant design in the rigid disk drive industry
over time, and provides a much more rigorous definition of the concept of
a dominant design than we have had in the past. We find the notion of first
-mover advantage is not applicable in the rigid disk drive industry. Instea
d, we propose the idea of an entry-window tightly linked to the emergence o
f the dominant product design as defined.