Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • summer 1997
  • Article
  • RAND Journal of Economics

An Empirical Exploration of a Technology Race

By: J. Lerner
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:20
ShareBar

Abstract

An extensive theoretical literature examines technological competition, and in particular whether leaders maintain their standing. These models, however, have received little support. Innovation is examined in the disk drive industry, an environment particularly conducive to identifying racing behavior. Strategic variables prove significant in explaining the decision to innovate. The patterns are in accord with Reinganum's (1989) work: firms that trail the leader innovate more. Controls are added for technological opportunity, financing constraints, and firm turnover. When firms manufacture drives for internal use or there are many entrants, and strategic actions may be less important, the effects are less pronounced.

Keywords

Technology; Learning

Citation

Lerner, J. "An Empirical Exploration of a Technology Race." RAND Journal of Economics 28, no. 2 (summer 1997): 228–247.
  • Find it at Harvard

About The Author

Josh Lerner

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Fencing Off Silicon Valley: Cross-Border Venture Capital and Technology Spillovers

    By: Ufuk Akcigit, Sina T. Ates, Josh Lerner, Richard Townsend and Yulia Zhestkova
    • Summer 2020
    • Journal of Economic Perspectives

    Venture Capital's Role in Financing Innovation: What We Know and How Much We Still Need to Learn

    By: Josh Lerner and Ramana Nanda
    • 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Two Case Studies on the Financing of Forest Conservation

    By: Andrew Baxter, Connor Cash, Josh Lerner and Ratnika Prasad
More from the Author
  • Fencing Off Silicon Valley: Cross-Border Venture Capital and Technology Spillovers By: Ufuk Akcigit, Sina T. Ates, Josh Lerner, Richard Townsend and Yulia Zhestkova
  • Venture Capital's Role in Financing Innovation: What We Know and How Much We Still Need to Learn By: Josh Lerner and Ramana Nanda
  • Two Case Studies on the Financing of Forest Conservation By: Andrew Baxter, Connor Cash, Josh Lerner and Ratnika Prasad
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College