Impact of Industry Incumbency and Product Newness on Pioneer Leadtime

This study proposes a new theoretical frame to explain intermarket differences in the follow-up firm's market entry that determines the pioneer's monopoly period (i.e., pioneer leadtime). The authors note that firms' new market entry is reflective of their entry capabilities as well as entry motivations. More specifically, they argue that industry incumbency of both the pioneer and follow-up firms and product newness of the market may influence the follow-up firms' entry capabilities and motivations, creating variance in pioneer leadtime. Their empirical findings generally support the theoretical frame and complement the conventional entry-barrier perspective. For example, for really new products, pioneer leadtime is shorter when the follow-up entrant has experiences from similar industries than when it does not. For incrementally new products, pioneer leadtime is longer when the pioneer has experiences from similar industries than when it does not.