Economic analysis of rank-order tournaments has shown that intensified competition leads to declining performance. Empirical research demonstrates that individuals in tournament-type contests perform less well on average in the presence of larger number of competitors in total and superstars....

Tacit knowledge and cumulative learning underlie an evolutionary theory of business firm development and strategy. As one test case of the theory, this study examines firms' applied research and development activities. Evolutionary theory suggests that firms within an industry will tend both to...