Small Firms and the Strategy of the First Mover

Julian Lowe and M. H. Atkins

International Journal of the Economics of Business, 1994, vol. 1, issue 3, 405-419

Abstract: Timing of entry and the decision to be a leader or follower in products or markets is a complex decision and empirical evidence suggests that first movers do not always 'capture' all the potential benefits from being first. Small firms in particular are faced with problems when deciding on whether to be a first or later mover. Their strategies were examined using a sample of 264 firms in chosen industry sectors and specific external and internal factors were found to explain much of the variation in timing of entry strategies by these firms. In particular a composite measure of the technological turbulence that firms faced in their supply chain was seen as a crucial determinant of early entry whilst uncertainty as to general business conditions explained much of the late and non pioneering strategies. Even within this group of small firms, size also played an important role with the smallest companies tending to be the most pioneering

Keywords: Small firms; First mover; Strategy; Technology, JEL classifications: D21, D43, M21, (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1994
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/758536230 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:ijecbs:v:1:y:1994:i:3:p:405-419

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CIJB20

DOI: 10.1080/758536230

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of the Economics of Business is currently edited by Eleanor Morgan

More articles in International Journal of the Economics of Business from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().