EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Incumbent inertia, innovativeness, and performance (dis)advantages: A demand-side learning perspective

Jonathan D. Bohlmann (), Michael A. Stanko () and Jelena Spanjol ()
Additional contact information
Jonathan D. Bohlmann: North Carolina State University
Michael A. Stanko: North Carolina State University
Jelena Spanjol: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München

AMS Review, 2024, vol. 14, issue 1, No 9, 122-142

Abstract: Abstract Strategies of incumbent firms have received considerable attention in marketing and across business disciplines, but findings regarding performance (dis)advantages and innovativeness are mixed. Prior studies on supply-side sources (factors internal to the firm) of incumbent inertia disadvantages are more prevalent than those on demand-side factors, which relate to a firm’s customers and may explain potential incumbent advantages. We introduce an integrated demand-side framework to incumbent inertia, recognizing how the supply- and demand-side factors interrelate through learning mechanisms. On the one hand, incumbent firms learn and develop various routines and assets that influence their product strategies, typically reflecting inertia and incremental innovation. At the same time, customers learn about products in the market, forming preferences that reflect switching costs and network externalities (demand-side factors). Although an incumbent can gain advantages from demand-side effects, this could accelerate the onset of supply-side disadvantages. We present a set of research propositions that specify critical effects, and examine implications for incumbent strategies.

Keywords: Incumbent inertia; Product innovation; Switching costs; Network externalities; Preference formation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13162-024-00281-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:amsrev:v:14:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s13162-024-00281-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... gement/journal/13162

DOI: 10.1007/s13162-024-00281-x

Access Statistics for this article

AMS Review is currently edited by Manjit S. Yadav

More articles in AMS Review from Springer, Academy of Marketing Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().

 
Page updated 2025-04-25
Handle: RePEc:spr:amsrev:v:14:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s13162-024-00281-x