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Fun to drive? The dynamics of car manufacturers' differentiation strategies
Author(s) -
Hoeft Fabian
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
strategic change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.527
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1099-1697
pISSN - 1086-1718
DOI - 10.1002/jsc.2463
Subject(s) - sustainability , competitive advantage , business , first mover advantage , industrial organization , differentiator , dynamics (music) , dissemination , marketing , computer science , telecommunications , sociology , ecology , pedagogy , bandwidth (computing) , biology
Car manufacturers attempt to differentiate through a combination of technological and nontechnological differentiators, motivated by varying degrees of sustainability and competitive advantage rationale across first movers and followers. This paper investigates how differentiation efforts disseminate from individual firms to industry‐wide engagements and why some firms decide to move first. The case of incumbent car manufacturers is used to shed light on how and why firms differentiate and how differentiation links to the sustainability transition of the industry. The research highlights that car manufacturers attempt to differentiate through a combination of technological and nontechnological differentiators, motivated by varying degrees of sustainability and competitive advantage rationale across first movers and followers. A first‐mover advantage is particularly evident in technological differentiators.