William G. Mitchell

Adapting to Uncertainty in Complements: Product Innovation and Evolution of Complementary Technolo

Although prior research highlights the strategic importance of complementary technologies, less attention has been paid to implications of changes in complementary technologies. This paper studies how product innovation in firms is affected by uncertainty during the evolution of complementary technologies. We argue that technological uncertainty about the future of complementary technologies creates an inducement for firms to alter features in focal products. We hypothesize that firms launch products with a greater number of features when uncertainty about the future of complementary technologies is higher. We then hypothesize that the effects of uncertainty reduce for firms with a higher breadth of technical knowledge about the focal product and for firms with greater commercial knowledge about the focal product. These hypotheses are supported in a sample of mobile device manufacturers during 2006-2015, a period that witnessed rapid and uncertain changes in complementary mobile technologies. Additional a...

Succession and Synchronicity in Corporate Modes of Reconfiguration: Make, Buy, Ally, Divest

This symposium explores the conditions under which firms pursue a combination of different modes of reconfiguration. Two studies in this symposium focus on experience as the antecedent for choosing...