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Description:
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New product introductions rely on technologies that are often subject to strongly contested standards wars . In an attempt to ensure that the technical formats that their products are built upon , are the ones that gain widespread market acceptance and thereby emerge as industry standards , firms often engage in alliances to develop and /or market these technical formats . This research examines the relationships between the characteristics of standard setting alliances , those of the alliance partners , the technical formats and the market acceptance of the formats . In doing so , I seek to complement prior research by developing and empirically testing a theoretical framework of these relationships . While a few studies (Axelrod et al . 1995 ; Chiao , Lerner and Tirole 2007 ) have examined how firms form and organize standard setting alliances , the relationship between the characteristics of such alliances and their success (i .e . , the market’s acceptance of the technical format supported by the alliance ) is an under -researched subject .
A format that is widely accepted by the market (adopted in more products and adopted by more firms ) is in turn more likely to emerge as a standard . Using a unique data set of formats and standard setting alliances in the consumer electronics industry , assembled from multiple sources , I examine this link between standard setting alliances and format characteristics , and the market’s acceptance of the format .
Results indicate that the relationship between the size of a standard setting alliance (number of partners in alliance ) and the market acceptance of a format is inverted U -shaped . This suggests that a larger membership in the development alliance does not always imply that the alliance activities will lead to market acceptance of the format . I find that alliances with a greater proportion of generalists are shown to be capable of developing formats that find greater acceptance in the market . Marketing intensity in the years prior to forming the alliance is found to be important . The results also suggest that the broader the applicability of a technical format across industries , the greater its market acceptance . Interestingly though , the hypothesis that formalized alliances lead to greater market acceptance of the format was not supported by the data .
I conclude with a discussion of the potential contributions and implications of the findings for marketing practice and future research . |