Faculty News
In an op-ed, Prof. JP Eggers discusses his research showing companies that bet on a losing technology can still end up ahead of their competition
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Excerpt from Harvard Business Review -- "Much of my investigation centered on flat-panel computer displays. I examined company and product data for 55 firms from the 1980s through the 2000s. Initially, companies pursued either plasma screens or liquid crystal displays. LCDs turned out to be the right call, but several firms with an early focus on plasma, including IBM, ended up as the top LCD performers. Why? I believe that switching to a new technology often forces companies to rapidly ascend a steep learning curve, and they can then use their knowledge to beat competitors whose learning proceeded more slowly."
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