HIGHER-ORDER TECHNOLOGICAL LEARNING AS DETERMINANT OF MARKET SUCCESS IN THE MULTIMEDIA ARENA - A SUCCESS STORY, A FAILURE, AND A QUESTION MARK - AGFA BAYER-AG, ENABLE-SOFTWARE, AND SUN-MICROSYSTEMS/

The case studies of three players in the multimedia arena focused on i nstances and patterns of technological learning - technical and admini strative learning as it occurs within and across technology-driven org anizations - are compared and contrasted Success and failure to learn from? customer competitor, and supplier feedback and to integrate less ons learned in shaping entrepreneurial decision making and marketing s trategy are highlighted. These case studies were all composed through triangulation of multiple field interviews with several company princi pals, of publicly available information, and of company documents made available to the author by the companies studied. The first story is about AGFA Electronic Preprint Systems, a subsidiary of BAYER AG, base d in Wilmington, Mass., and a lender in the high end desk top publishi ng and reproduction business. The company successfully reinvented itse lf driving its transformation by a vigorous focus at lower, middle, an d top management levels on employee, customer, competitor, and supplie r feedback and by integrating lessons learned into a very entrepreneur ial manufacturing and marketing strategy. The second story is about En able Software, an upstate New York software venture that was among the pioneers of software integration but failed to capitalize on the nich e it carved for itself lost its strategic focus, and recently transfer red ifs customer base to Microsoft through a strategic alliance with t he software giant. The third story is about Sun Microsystems, a Silico n Valley producer of engineering workstations currently faced with maj or challenges to redefine its worldviews and reinvent itself ns its ma rket niche comes under increasing pressure from higher and lower end o riginal equipment manufacturers (OEMs). (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.