Adoption order of new technologies in evolving markets

This paper empirically examines the order in which firms adopt new technologies in the computer disk drive industry. I find that large firms and incumbents are more likely to adopt earlier than small ones and entrants when innovation does not rapidly obsolete existing technologies and products. I also find in some cases that small firms and entrants adopt earlier than large ones and incumbents when innovation rapidly obsoletes existing products. These results are consistent with both the economics literature on technology adoption and strategy literature on heterogeneous research capabilities.