Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
7-2021
Abstract
Research Summary Strategy research views firms' diverse experience base as critical to new product success. It also champions strategy-by-doing in entrepreneurial settings. This study juxtaposes and bridges these two perspectives to better understand product development. We propose that while a firm's product portfolio diversity contributes to new product success only to a certain degree, design iteration-a postlaunch strategy-by-doing approach-is positively associated with new product performance. Our core contribution points to a complementary relationship: strategy-by-doing helps mitigate the capacity constraints problem that prevents firms from successfully adapting product development capabilities to a dynamic market. Our analysis of a sample of 2,182 nascent mobile apps from 564 top producers in the U.S. market supports our hypotheses. We discuss implications for product development, strategy-by-doing, and technology innovation literature.Managerial Summary Successful product development establishes firms' competitive advantage. The burgeoning digital economy increasingly prompts product development to depend on strategy-by-doing and requires firms to adapt a product's design over its lifecycle. Through analyzing a sample of newly launched mobile apps in the U.S. market, we find that while a firm's product portfolio diversity improves new product success to a certain degree, design iteration, a distinct approach to strategy-by-doing, underpins a new product's continual attractiveness to users. Moreover, frequent design iterations can overcome the barriers that innovator firms face when applying a diverse repertoire of experiences to product development.
Keywords
digital innovation, innovation performance, product development, product portfolio, strategy-by-doing
Discipline
Strategic Management Policy | Technology and Innovation
Research Areas
Strategy and Organisation
Publication
Strategic Management Journal
Volume
42
Issue
7
First Page
1379
Last Page
1398
ISSN
0143-2095
Identifier
10.1002/smj.3262
Publisher
Wiley
Citation
CHEN, Liang; WANG, Mengmeng; CUI, Lin; and LI, Sali.
Experience base, strategy-by-doing and new product performance. (2021). Strategic Management Journal. 42, (7), 1379-1398.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/7219
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3262