We analyze a model of cost-reducing R&D and compatibility decisions by two platforms. After an exogenous improvement in the efficiency of R&D, each platform has a heightened incentive to make its software incompatible with the rival's hardware device to avoid being dominated in the hardware...

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) technologies are often seen as a threat by copyright owners because they encourage piracy by making digital copies easier. In response, major record companies have come up with new devices designed to protect original material, and lobbied to reinforce legal protection. We...

We study the licensing incentives of an independent input producer owning a patented product innovation which allows the downstream firms to improve the quality of their final goods. We consider a general two-part tariff contract for both outside and incumbent innovators. We find that technology...

We present an equilibrium model where the demand side of the market determines the strategic incentives of firms when considering the introduction of technologically superior products (TSPs) and the subsequent dynamic evolution of the market configuration. Market demand is built on conventional...

General purpose technologies (GPTs) have been important drivers of industrial revolutions and economic development, but their link to standards has not been analyzed systematically. We document that all of the most common examples of GPTs—steam, railway, electricity and information (and...

Complementor innovation is an essential form of value co-creation in open platform ecosystems. However, the increasing platform fragmentation, i.e., users in the ecosystem adopting different versions of the platform technologies, has significantly hindered complementor innovation. For instance,...

For enthusiasts, distributed ledger technology and smart contract technology promise a future of frictionless interactions and decentralisation. In practice, however, it is widely acknowledged that this vision faces significant challenges. These include legal challenges, technological...

Organizations are restructuring, re-engineering and rethinking how they do business in an effort to keep pace with changes in technology and other economic conditions in the world. The goal of technological change under study is the ability of SMEs to accept new innovative methods that will lead...

Various theories have been advanced for why employees leave incumbent firms to found firms in the same industry, which we call spinoffs. We review the accumulating evidence about spinoffs in various high-tech industries, highlighting the central role often played by disagreements. Because...

Organizations are restructuring, re-engineering and rethinking how they do business in an effort to keep pace with changes in technology and other economic conditions in the world. The goal of technological change under study is the ability of SMEs to accept new innovative methods that will lead...