Exploration and Exploitation in the Presence of Network Externalities
研究在网络外部性下，探索不兼容新技术如何影响企业成长，通过PC和工作站市场的对比分析发现，大量高端用户或新技术在旧技术起飞前引入时，探索更可能促进增长。
This paper examines the conditions under which exploration of a new, incompatible technologyis conducive to firm growth in the presence of network externalities. In particular, this study is motivated by the divergent evolutions of the PC and the workstation markets in response to a new technology: reduced instruction set computing (RISC). In the PC market, Intel has developed new microprocessors by maintaining compatibility with the established architecture, whereas it was radically replaced by RISC in the workstation market. History indicates that unlike the PC market, the workstation market consisted of a large number of power users, who are less sensitive to compatibility than ordinary users. Our numerical analysis indicates that the exploration of a new, incompatible technology is more likely to increase the chance of firm growth when there are a substantial number of power users or when a new technology is introduced before an established technology takes off.