Shikhar Sarin and Trina Sego, professors of marketing, have collaborated with coauthors on two research papers published in the Academy of Marketing Science Review. Their papers “Securing Early-Mover Advantage in Technology Markets: Insights from the Field on the Contingent Influence of Organizational Will and Skill,” and “Contingent Influences of Innovation Characteristics and Firm Capabilities on Early-Mover Advantages: A Conceptual Framework for High-Tech Environments,” explore a compelling and oft debated question in the tech industry.
While it is widely believed that being the first to market guarantees success, Sarin and Sego’s research offers a nuanced perspective on this assumption. Through in-depth interviews with former CEOs and CMOs who bring decades of experience across industries such as printing, telecommunications, networking, cybersecurity and collaborative technologies, they explore a more nuanced reality.
Their findings suggest that early-mover advantage is not automatic, but instead depends heavily on a firm’s capabilities, strategic execution and the nature of the innovation itself. In other words, getting there first is not always what matters most.
By digging deeper into whether the “early bird” truly catches the worm, Sarin and Sego provide valuable insights for both scholars and practitioners navigating fast-moving, high-tech markets.