The influence of prior industry affiliation on framing in nascent industries

New industries sparked by technological change are characterized by high technological, market, and competitive uncertainty. In this paper we explore how a firm's conceptualization of products in this context, reflected in its introduction of product features, is influenced by prior industry affiliation. We hypothesize first, that prior industry experience shapes a set of shared beliefs resulting in similar and concurrent firm behavior, second, that firms will notice and imitate the behaviors of firms from the same prior industry, and third, that as firms gain experience with particular features, the influence of prior industry will decrease. Our hypotheses are supported by findings from a quantitative, large sample study of digital cameras introduced from 1991 to 2006 by firms from three prior industries: photography, consumer electronics, and computers. By 2004, several features had emerged as a dominant design, however the timing and rate of adoption varied by prior industry. This study extends previous research on firm entry into new domains by examining heterogeneity in firms' feature-level entry choices. In addition, we contribute to work on dominant designs, going beyond characterizing a dominant design as a set of technological choices, to understanding cognitive convergence on a standard set of demand-side product features.