Dominant Designs and the Survival of Firms

Suarez, Fernando; Utterback, James

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Dominant Designs and the Survival of Firms

Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 16, 1995: 415-430

16 Pages Posted: 4 Dec 2013

See all articles by Fernando Suarez

Fernando Suarez

Northeastern University, D'Amore-McKim School of Business

James Utterback

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

Date Written: 1995

Abstract

The economic, population ecology and strategic perspectives on firm survival are here complemented by viewing the same phenomenon from the viewpoint of technology evolution as well. The hypothesis tested is that the competitive environment of an industry, and therefore the survival of firms in it, is substantially affected by the evolution of the technology on which it is based. Survival analysis is applied to data from six industries. The results show that by explicitly including technology as a dynamic and strategic variable our understanding of firms' survival potential and success can be enhanced.

Keywords: technology, firm survival, dominant design

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Suarez, Fernando and Utterback, James M., Dominant Designs and the Survival of Firms (1995). Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 16, 1995: 415-430, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2362583