The rate of technical change that is characterising both the telecommunications and the computer industry has been a major driver of the evolution of a close and stable system into an open and dynamic one. The introduction of a cluster of new technologies has originated significant changes...

In this paper we develop a formal model that captures some basic features of competition in the mobile communications service industry. In a model of oligopolistic competition with price discrimination and switching costs, we study the role of firms’ installed base of consumers in providing...

This paper aims at analyzing the characteristics and the determinants of innovation in the mobile communication service industry, by emphasising in particular the role of demand. In a Shumpeterian spirit, we argue that competition in this sector crucially depends upon innovation, and that, given...

The paper aims at examining the drivers of the adoption of the Internet banking, in order to understand its role with respect to the traditional banking activity and to offer a comprehensive picture of the diffusion of such a technology within the sector. In doing so, it analyses the role of...

The generation of new varieties is crucial for economic growth. The capitalistic mode of production has shown over time a remarkable capability of setting incentives for economic actors to create new products and processes. Concerning the development of new products, the incentives lie in the...

This paper focuses on niche entry patterns in the LAN equipment industry in the 1990s. We analyze an original data-set of LAN equipment consisting of more than 1,000 hubs and switches marketed between 1990 and 1999. Modularity emerged as a design strategy that supported incumbent firms’...

The rise of Fast Ethernet as the dominant standard for high speed connection in the Local Area Network industry is chosen to analyse the relevance of increasing returns and network externalities in determining the speed of standard diffusion. Although it was not the first standard to emerge,...

We investigate the relationship between product innovation and firm survival for a sample of 121 firms in a high-tech industry. We find that location near the technological frontier is an important determinant of fim survival. Firms located near the frontier are also more likely to be acquired...

This work is concerned with the determinants of innovations and competition of technologies in the case of the Local Area Network industry. It focuses in particular on two suppliers of LAN components: the access technology industry and the internetworking industry. Two elements driving the...

Technical change can affect existing products very rapidly and at an uneven pace depending on the type and on the age of an industry. In young and fast growing industries, the process of technological change usually entails a series of improvements in existing products that affect their...