The Race to Product Launch: First-Mover Strategies in the Semiconductor Industry

The aim of my research project is to explain the antecedents and performance consequences of pioneering strategies in the semiconductor industry. Moving first or pioneering refers to a firm's ability to launch a new product ahead of its competitors. I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of being a pioneer, as opposed to a follower, and the benefits and risks associated with the decision taken in a fast pacing, high-technology industry. Compared to the consequences of the entry process on the results obtained by the firm, a significantly less amount of research has been devoted to the investigation of the factors that affect the timing of entry into a new product market. In the semiconductor industry, I argue that besides a firm's technical knowledge base, commercial knowledge impacts the timing of a new product innovation and thus a firm's ability to pioneer a product.

In order to find evidence for the theory, I followed a two step approach. From January until July 2004, discussions and several interviews with senior executives of a leading semiconductor firm in Europe are conducted. This gave me the opportunity to gain a deep understanding on the semiconductor industry and preliminary evidence on the proposed model. Additionally, following a quantitative approach, archival data on product innovations, patents and firm reports are analyzed in order to find further empirical evidence for the proposed model.

Aufenthaltsort: SPRU, University of Sussex, Brighton, England
Referent: Prof. Dr. Georg von Krogh (IfB-HSG)