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Performance feedback, competitive repertoire simplicity, and technological evolution in a televised design contest

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Pushkar Jha

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Abstract

Research suggests that in industries where firms compete primarily on the relative merits of their designs, performance feedback from repeated episodes of competitive rivalry often leads firms to focus their resources on progressively fewer design features. Applying Miller and Chen's (1996a,b) concept of 'competitive repertoire simplicity' we argue that the shift from broad to narrow set of technological options marking technological evolution is the product of multi-level interaction between competitive design decisions made at the individual firm level, and technological knowledge that accumulates at the industry level. Taking advantage of an elimination tournament called Robot Wars - where competition is transparent, regulated and is marked by repeat participation - we examine repertoire simplicity and its escalation over iterative episodes of dyadic rivalry. Using a data set of 296 robotic designs over 4 episodes of this design contest we find evidence for (a) escalating repertoire simplicity causing convergence in design configurations; and (b) hypothesized, but rarely tested, links between competition at the individual team level and technological evolution at the population level. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Jha PP, Lampel J

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Research Policy

Year: 2014

Volume: 43

Issue: 2

Pages: 403-413

Print publication date: 01/03/2014

Online publication date: 16/11/2013

Acceptance date: 01/10/2013

ISSN (print): 0048-7333

ISSN (electronic): 1873-7625

Publisher: Elsevier BV

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2013.10.005

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2013.10.005

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