Product Adaptation During New Industry Emergence: The Role of Start-Up Team Preentry Experience
研究了初创企业高管团队进入前的经验广度、深度和类型如何影响产品适应可能性，基于1992-2007年美国太阳能光伏初创企业数据，发现经验广度与创业经验促进适应，而行业深度经验反而降低适应可能。
Although prior literature argues that product adaption is critical to survival in new or dynamic industries, we have very limited information about the antecedents to product adaptation. This paper focuses on start-up top management teams (TMTs) and explores the impact of different types of preentry experience—preentry experience breadth, depth, and type (entrepreneurial and business experience)—on the likelihood that start-ups adapt their products. The hypotheses are tested among the population of U.S. solar photovoltaic start-ups during a period of industry emergence from 1992 to 2007. The analysis suggests that preentry experience breadth and experience in other dynamic settings (entrepreneurial) increases the ability of start-up TMTs to learn quickly about their environment, thereby increasing the likelihood of product adaptation. By contrast, deep preentry experience in the industry, although valuable in many other ways, can lead to narrow learning that decreases the likelihood of adaptation. These results underscore the importance of preentry experience to product adaptation. The results also underscore the role and patterns of product adaptation in firm, industry, and technology evolution.