Ambition in innovation: Vicarious learning in the nascent electric scooter market in Taiwan

I. Kim Wang and Russell Seidle

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2020, vol. 152, issue C

Abstract: Past evidence shows that firms in nascent markets rarely earn handsome rewards from pursuing technological superiority. The process by which firms in these nascent markets align their product technology strategy with their technological advantage remains unclear. This study examines how firms with strong technological resources tamp down the uncertainty inherent in such markets using vicarious learning – observing the initiatives of peer organizations and taking cues from them. Using a unique hand-collected dataset from the nascent Taiwanese electric scooter market, we find that firms often strategically release lower-performing products than their capabilities might dictate. Technologically capable firms are found to offer lower technological specifications than could be developed with the resources they control; their ambition is further attenuated by the presence of a market leading firm. We contribute to the literature by shedding light on how firms use vicarious learning to determine the technical parameters of their product offerings. Our findings suggest the wisdom of a step-wise approach in which firms release a less perfect product than their technological stock allows and improve the product through a sequence of smaller – yet still consequential – innovations.

Keywords: Innovation; Nascent industries; Patents; Vicarious learning; Inter-firm similarity; Firm-level capabilities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162518317384
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:tefoso:v:152:y:2020:i:c:s0040162518317384

DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2019.119886

Access Statistics for this article

Technological Forecasting and Social Change is currently edited by Fred Phillips

More articles in Technological Forecasting and Social Change from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().