Pioneering strategies in the digital world. Insights from the Axel Springer case

Digital technologies present some distinctive characteristics; they simultaneously enable pervasive connectivity, immediacy of interactions and wide access to data and computing power. Based on a detailed historical analysis of Axel Springer, we suggest that pioneering strategies in new markets created by the diffusion of digital technologies are negatively moderated by the fit between firms’ legacy core capabilities and those required to enter the new market. We then show that pioneering strategies in non-core legacy markets are instrumental in creating the capabilities necessary for the sustainability of first-mover advantages (FMA) in the legacy core markets. Finally, we show the role of managerial cognition as a key individual-level enabler in achieving pioneering advantages.