In 1980, the U.S. freight railroad industry was deregulated. Railroad companies now had the freedom to abandon unprofitable lines and acquire new ones. They were also no longer banned from owning other modes of transportation, notable road and water transportation; the companies thus gained access to previously inaccessible markets that had been reserved for road […]
Read More… from Industry Disruption: Sequence and Timing of Responses Are the Key to Survival
There are a variety of product-related services that manufacturers offer their customers. New research pinpoints the following different categories of services: Complementary services help customers feel more comfortable buying the product because they either smooth the sale and use of the product or they adapt the product’s functionality. Complementary smoothing services — such as financing, […]
Read More… from Adapt Your Choice of Product-Related Services to the Industry Life Cycle
Using the movie exhibition industry as its central case study, a team of researchers studied how the entry of a new movie theatre impacts an incumbent’s theatre movie choices. From the perspective of movie theatres, the movies that bring in more patrons (for example, the big-budget blockbusters or highly popular, recently released movies) are more […]
Read More… from Why Increasing Demand Is Not Always the Answer to New Competition
Entrepreneurs innovating in the technology space often lack the know-how or “specialized complementary assets” within their companies to successfully commercialize their innovations. Consequently, to date, the academic literature on this subject has advised them to contract with or license the commercialization to incumbent companies that already have an established market presence. In the short term […]
Read More… from Should Technology Innovators Participate in the Commercialization Process?
Traditionally, industry-leading companies used to be large conglomerates that gained their dominant competitive advantage through an accumulation of assets and positions, which gave them unbeatable economies of scale. Thanks to the diversity of their portfolios, these conglomerates had a wide reach, allowing them to pursue short-term profitability and growth wherever they could find it. Today, […]
Read More… from What Your Company Can Learn from Supercompetitors
What is the basis for a company’s competitive advantage? Traditionally, this question elicits one of two answers: 1) Industry structure. Finding the product-market space within a particular industry that is optimal for your company: in this space you can establish a monopolistic or at the least an oligopolistic position through various barriers to entry. 2) […]
Read More… from Why Companies from Emerging Markets Are Putting the Heat on Multinationals
Research dating as far back as the early 20th century has shown that the first argument presented to humans on even complex topics has greater persuasive appeal and is more likely to change minds. Building on this, Dana Carney and Mahzarin Banaji from Haas School of Business and Harvard University, respectively, set out to test […]
