SI Seminar with Jackson Nickerson

When and where do firms reposition in a market that experiences an innovation shock?  Much research in strategy focuses on the benefit of being the innovator or first mover. Yet, other firms beyond the innovator, sometimes many, typically survive such a common shock. This paper builds on recent advances in the theory of comparative adjustment, opportunity, and transaction costs to predict when and where firms reposition in response to an innovation shock, along with the survival implications of these choices. We develop these predictions in the context of the innovation shock of index shifting during rapid growth of U.S. mountain bike market. We predict and find empirically using an econometric method novel to strategic management research, that the early and late followers are more likely to survive than those that follow in the middle. Applying Porter’s terminology with respect to strategy, we label this phenomenon as stuck in the middle of time.

The seminar takes place in Kilen, room 2.53. Everyone is welcome.