ANIMATING THE PIONEER VERSUS LATE ENTRANT DEBATE - AN HISTORICAL CASE-STUDY

This paper examines the debate about whether early entrants/pioneers t o an industry enjoy long-term advantage over their successors. While m ost of the research suggests that pioneers are advantaged, there are m ethodological problems with these studies that tend to enhance the lik elihood that pioneers will be found to be more successful. Through a c ase study of the US animation industry, it is shown that being a late entrant was almost certainly advantageous to some of the companies con cerned. The paper explores the reasons why some late entrants prevaile d over others and some of the mechanisms that allowed late entrants to overcome pioneers. The factors involved in survival relative to pione ers include the limited protection of patents, complacency, the mobili ty of staff with expertise in a new technology (in this case cel anima tion), and the neglected importance of managerial and organizational f actors. It is shown that the findings also have implications for the p opulation ecology approach.