Mirva Peltoniemi

Reviewing Industry Life‐Cycle Theory: Avenues for Future Research

This paper explicates the key mechanisms and research themes of industry life‐cycle theory and assesses the extent to which empirical evidence supports such an approach. It is based on a review of 216 industry life‐cycle studies. The review of the theory is organized around industry emergence and transition to industry maturity. The key research themes concern changes in industry structure, changes in the nature of innovation, and the determinants of survival. Three potential special cases, i.e. services, complex products and systems, and cultural industries, are identified, and five research questions for future enquiry are presented.

Cultural Industries: Product–Market Characteristics, Management Challenges and Industry Dynamics

During the last decade, cultural industries have grown in economic importance, and research interest in them has increased. Despite prolific research, there is a lack of a comprehensive view on the subject. The purpose of the present paper is to offer a reconceptualization of cultural industries by tracing their boundaries, their features and the dynamics that follow from these features. This is achieved through a review of 314 cultural industries studies, whereby a classification system of three main and six sub-categories is constructed. On the basis of the review, a framework for future research is presented. Most importantly, future research should examine selection criteria and selection performance, and explore the relationships between tastes, sales, diversity and quality. In this way, researchers might be able to create some order in the extreme uncertainty that cultural industries managers face.

The Evolution of Global Paper Industry 1800¬–2050

Preface List of Contributors 1. Research on Evolution and the Global History of Pulp and Paper Industry: An Introduction Juha-Antti Lamberg, Jari Ojala, Mirva Peltoniemi and Timo Sarkka 2. The Evolution of Pulp and Paper Industries in Finland, Sweden and Norway 1800-2005 Joonas Jarvinen, Jari Ojala, Anders Melander and Juha-Antti Lamberg 3. Waves of Technological Innovation: The Evolution of the US Pulp and Paper Industry, 1860-2000 Hannes Toivanen 4. The Paper Industry in Germany, 1800-2000 Olli Turunen 5. An Accomplished History, An Uncertain Future: Canadas Pulp and Paper Industry Since the Early 1800s Mark Kuhlberg 6. From the Non-European Tradition to a Variation on the Japanese Competitiveness Model: The Modern Japanese Paper Industry Since the 1870s Takafumi Kurosawa and Tomoko Hashino 7. The British Paper Industry, 1800-2000 Timo Sarkka 8. The Paper and Board Industry in the Netherlands, 1800-2000 Bram Bouwens 9. Is there a Southern European model? Development of the Pulp and Paper Industry in Italy, Spain and Portugal (1800-2010) Miquel Gutierrez-Poch 10. The South American Pulp and Paper Industry: The Cases Brazil, Chile and Uruguay Maria Barbosa Lima-Toivanen 11. The Pulp and Paper Industry Evolution in Russia: A Road of Many Transitions Olga Mashkina 12. Global Market for Paper Products: 2006-2050 Joonas Jarvinen, Juha-Antti Lamberg, Tomi Nokelainen, Henrikki Tikkanen 13. The Evolution of the Global Paper Industry: Concluding Remarks Jari Ojala, Miikka Voutilainen and Juha-Antti Lamberg

Thinking about industry decline : A qualitative meta-analysis and future research directions

Abstract We analyze historical and longitudinal research focusing on industry decline. Our analysis suggests that the literature’s general reliance on a few meta-theoretical arguments has important consequences for how decline is framed and explained. We identify four meta-theoretical clusters in the literature: politics and market dynamics are seen as exogenous factors with deterministic features, whereas technology and management capabilities are framed as firm-internal failures with causally questionable explanations of how firm-level characteristics explain industry-level decline. We propose that it is important to understand the limitations of distinct meta-theoretical arguments for an enhanced theoretical and methodological understanding of what industry decline is, how it takes place, and why. Accordingly, this study contributes to business history research by restructuring and clarifying latent theoretical issues, demonstrating the pros and cons of researchers’ choices, and offering guidelines and propositions for researchers interested in industry decline.

Establishing Video Game Genres Using Data-Driven Modeling and Product Databases:

Establishing genres is the first step toward analyzing games and how the genre landscape evolves over the years. We use data-driven modeling that distils genres from textual descriptions of a large collection of games. We analyze the evolution of game genres from 1979 till 2010. Our results indicate that until 1990, there have been many genres competing for dominance, but thereafter sport-racing, strategy, and action have become the most prevalent genres. Moreover, we find that games vary to a great extent as to whether they belong mostly to one genre or to a combination of several genres. We also compare the results of our data-driven model with two product databases, Metacritic and Mobygames, and observe that the classifications of games to different genres are substantially different, even between product databases. We conclude with discussion on potential future applications and how they may further our understanding of video game genres.

How do the determinants of firm survival change in the course of the industry life cycle?A fuzzy-set analysis

Industry life-cycle research on firm survival often tests the effects of innovativeness, entry timing, and experience from related industries. However, findings on how these effects change over different stages of the life cycle are scarce. To fill this gap, we perform a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis on a data-set of 58 video game device producers in six product generations. We find that innovation provides a consistent survival advantage only in the mature stage of the life cycle. We also find that experience accumulated within the industry loses its value in the mature stage, and the advantage shifts to de alio entrants only after shake-out. These findings are discussed relating to technological uncertainty, the role of internal and external knowledge, and the construction of sufficient technological performance.

Genre‐deviating artist entry: the role of authenticity and fuzziness

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to conceptually elaborate two important mechanisms, authenticity and fuzziness, that affect how audiences react to deviations from existing genres by artists that are making their first entry. In cultural industries such as music, social categorization systems play an important role in the success of actors. Audience members evaluate entering artists vis‐a‐vis the existing, collective system of categories and related normative social codes, and may or may not impose penalties for code violations.Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual paper and the conceptual framework is built on recent theorization regarding social categories in organizational fields. A key premise is that such categories, including musical genres, are fuzzy with blurred boundaries and partial membership. Such fuzziness is likely to affect organizational viability and dynamics.Findings – Based on the conceptualization, the baseline proposition is that artists making their first entry are ...

Research on Evolution and the Global History of Pulp and Paper Industry: An Introduction

The underlying assumption in the economic history of industries is the deterministic nature of the industry life cycle. That is, industries are assumed to follow a specific life cycle characterized by stages of nascence, growth, maturity and decline apparent in firm numbers, production volume and technological activity. This introduction gives an overview to the theme of this volume: the analysis of the birth, growth, maturity, and finally the decline of the mechanized pulp and paper industry from its inception in the early nineteenth century Europe to its current situation and future prospects in developing markets in Southern America and other regions.

Operationalization in dynamic capabilities research: Review and recommendations for future research

We systematically review quantitative empirical research on dynamic capabilities in order to identify their common operationalizations, and to assess the extent to which they align with the theoretical essence of the construct. Our review includes 50 articles published between 1997 and 2012, which represent 96 distinct operationalizations of different types of dynamic capabilities. Each of these instances is analyzed as to the variables and types of data employed when studying the construct. We find that five types of operationalizations have been used: (1) managers’ evaluations, (2) financial data, (3) competitive actions or strategies, (4) experience- or performance-based measures, and (5) individuals’ characteristics, achievements or actions. In order to better align with the theoretical essence of dynamic capabilities, we recommend that in future studies (1) researchers should explicate the ordinary capabilities that they hypothesize dynamic capabilities to change, (2) they should give dynamic capabil...

Exploration, exploitation and fashionability: Product success in video games

Our study develops and tests hypotheses concerning the implications of creative exploration and exploitation in cultural industries. Distinguishing between fashionable and unfashionable genres, we ...