Technological Evolution, System Architecture and the Obsolescence of Firm Capabilities

Marco Iansiti and Tarun Khanna

Industrial and Corporate Change, 1995, vol. 4, issue 2, 333-61

Abstract: We present a historical study of technological evolution in the mainframe computer industry. We show that the pattern of innovation in the industry is not well characterized by existing models. The incremental evolution of mainframe system performance as seen by the customer was the result of an aggregation that masked substantial discontinuities at the component level. New technological concepts led to the frequent obsolescence of existing capabilities, despite the stability of customer needs and the persistence of a dominant design. The nature of our observations is captured in a simple critical path model of technological evolution. Our conceptualization sheds light on the dynamics of the evolution of the capability base of firms in an environment characterized by complex products and rapid technological change. Copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press.

Date: 1995
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:oup:indcch:v:4:y:1995:i:2:p:333-61

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Industrial and Corporate Change is currently edited by Josef Chytry

More articles in Industrial and Corporate Change from Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().