"Following suit? How Competition Between One's Rivals Invluences Imitative Market Entry"


Speaker


Abstract

In this paper, we use data from two different samples – the Chinese pharmaceutical industry and the Taiwanese computer hardware industry – to examine how competition between a firm’s rivals influences its inclination to follow these rivals into a new market. We theorize that the likelihood that a firm emulates its competitors depends on the extent of rivalry between them because it alters expectations of market attractiveness and the legitimacy of entry. In both samples, we find strong evidence that a firm’s propensity to mimetically enter a new market depends on the structural features of the patterns of market encounters between the firm’s competitors. We discuss how research into the implications of such wider structures of competitive interactions can be extended.
 
Program Directors:
Prof. Dr. F.A.J. van den Bosch, Prof.Dr. H.W. Volberda, Prof.Dr. H.P.G. Pennings
Contact information:
Carolien Heintjes
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