Consistency or responsiveness? Examining the introduction of product iterations by digital startups

Our study focuses attention on an important and understudied form of innovation—product iterations. Product iterations represent a key way in which firms update and enhance the value of their products, and they are particularly salient for firms competing in digital markets. Despite the importance of this phenomenon, relatively little is known about the basis by which these firms manage the introduction of product iterations. In this study, we focus on a core tension that digital startup firms face between emphasizing internal coordination versus external responsiveness, and correspondingly on whether and under what conditions these firms introduce product iterations based on consistency in clock time. In terms of conditions, we consider how the influence of temporal consistency may depend on different forms of market diversification. We find that digital startups in the global mobile game industry tend to introduce product iterations based on temporal consistency, and they are guided more by temporal consistency when competing in multiple platform markets, and less by temporal consistency when competing in multiple international markets. Our ideas and findings provide the basis for several important literature contributions.