دانلود رایگان مقاله از رقابت فناوری تا ماراتن فناوری توضیح رفتاری پیشرفت تکنولوژی

ABSTRACT

In industries characterized by continual progress from lower to higher generations of technology, firms seek to solidify their competitive position by deploying technologies more advanced than their current ones. This study attempts to provide behavioral explanations for the degree of technology advancement pursued by a firm. Using data from the flat panel display industry, we find that the extent of a firm's technology advancement is largely determined by how far it falls below the industry average. Our findings complement prior research on technology races by suggesting that firms in the thin-filmtransistor liquid-crystal display (TFT-LCD) industry largely attempt to run a “marathon” rather than a sprint: the degree of technology advancement is mainly guided by a desire not to fall behind the pack as opposed to trying to move ahead of the pack in order to win the race. By the same token, firms exceeding the industry average in their technology reveal little motivation even to maintain their lead, much less extend it.

3. Methods

3.1. Industry context The TFT-LCD industry is a setting of tremendous technology advancement since commercial production began in 1989 (Murtha, Lenway, & Hart, 2001). TFT-LCD has been the key technology to manufacturing display panels as it is more attractive than other competing technologies for ease of commercialization and superior technological performance. Throughout the observation period TFT-LCD accounted for more than 90 percent of the annual production value of flat-panel displays. Introductions of new generations have been frequent (Lee et al., 2011). In just 20 years, the TFTLCD industry has evolved from the 1st generation (Gen 1, size 300 mm
350 mm) in 1989 to the 10th generation (Gen 10, size 2880
3080 mm) in 2009, offering a wide variety of sizes and generations for TFT-LCD panel makers to produce. The manufacturing of displays is performed on a large sheet of glass substrate, which is later subdivided into separate display panels. Manufacturers of glass substrates (e.g., Corning) essentially set the pace and parameters of the technology race by developing and offering new glass substrate sizes that TFT-LCD panel makers can decide to adopt or not adopt. In other words, glass substrate size is the primary bottleneck TFT-LCD panel manufacturers have to contend with. As in the semiconductor industry, the TFT-LCD industry uses the concept of generations in technologicalspecifications. The technology generation is a simple, visible and industry-wide accepted measure of firms' technological sophistication (Murtha et al., 2001). Information on firms' current and upcoming technology generations is readily available on their corporate website, among other public sources. Firms can easily ascertain their competitors’ next generations through press releases or by tapping their suppliers.6 Panel manufacturers routinely announce their plant construction plans and specify the amount of capital involved. As shown in Fig. 1, there were more firms at the forefront, i.e., running the latest generation, before 2000 (left axis); meanwhile, the total number of firms in the industry has increased over the years, peaking in the late 2000s (right axis). While older generations of TFT-LCD technology can and do coexist with newer generations, firms are generally motivated to offer more advanced technology products to obtain higher profit margins.