Sunk Costs and the Depth and Probability of Technology Adoption

Thomas Astebro

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: I propose that sunk costs of learning and the output over which these costs are spread determine the probability and depth of technology adoption. Depth of adoption describes the extent to which firms exploit the advantages of the technology. I find that plant size but not firm size predicts CAD and CNC adoption. Learning costs are lumpy, are closely connected to technology adoption and determine both the probability and depth of adoption. Depth of adoption is considerably more plant idiosyncratic than the decision to adopt.

Keywords: Decision making; large enterprises; learning; small enterprises; sunk costs; Technology-led strategy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-09
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

Published in Journal of Industrial Economics, 2004, 52 (3), pp.381-399. ⟨10.1111/j.0022-1821.2004.00231.x⟩

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

Related works:
Journal Article: Sunk Costs and the Depth and Probability of Technology Adoption (2004)
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:hal:journl:hal-00480075

DOI: 10.1111/j.0022-1821.2004.00231.x

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD (hal@ccsd.cnrs.fr).